20 Greatest Matches In WWE's Empty Arena Era

The continued downward spiral of Jey Uso and simultaneous heroic rise of Daniel Bryan has been a superb feat of storytelling for the blue brand. After briefly stepping up as a contender for Roman Reigns’ Universal Champion, Uso has evolved his character into a hostage-cum-attack dog, putting the hurt on the champ’s foes for fear the Tribal Chief’s ire will otherwise be turned on him.

Simultaneously, Bryan is somewhere close to his 2015 vintage underdog status, emerging as the one possible man who could vanquish heel Reigns. Beyond all that, the two are spectacular wrestlers, and so this cage scrap to cap off a recent Smackdown was, obviously, brilliant.

Both men clicked into high gear right away, often eschewing their usual athletic move sets in favour of maximum damage, driving one another into the steel and laying in stiff strikes, with Roman Reigns at ringside, watching on with increasing displeasure.

Bryan got the win in appropriately gritty, brutal fashion, slapping Uso in the Yes lock and using the extreme stipulations to nullify Jey’s attempts at a rope break. Smackdown has been on fire of late, and this was one of the brand’s high points of the past 12 months.