WWF New Generation Vs WWE In 2020: Which Was Worse?
2. Matches
Bayley and Sasha Banks had an amazing Hell In A Cell match and a rematch two weeks later on SmackDown that was nearly as good. Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles had an absolute scorcher in the empty Performance Center. Styles, Jeff Hardy and Sami Zayn had one of the best Ladder Matches in years at Clash Of Champions before Roman Reigns stole the show in evocative fashion against Jey Uso. Seth Rollins did wonderful things for the future of Dominik Mysterio's career with a sublime carry job at SummerSlam. There are others on a similar level and even more on the one just below that. But WWE had major problem with major matches in 2020, and it went beyond there being no crowds.
Artistic expression was so often throttled that it felt as if the match was simply happening rather than being an act two individual wrestlers were engaged in. So often, an above average fight wasn't that, but a simulation of that calibrated to be above average using identical pacing, agenting and structure as the last simulation we saw seconds earlier.
Say what you will about some of 1995's turkeys, but nothing from the empty arena era comes close to the guile, guts and grit of Shawn Michaels Vs Razor Ramon from SummerSlam, or Bret Hart Vs Diesel from both the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series, or Shawn Michaels Vs Jeff Jarrett from In Your House 2, or Bret Hart Vs Hakushi from In Your House 1, or Shawn Michaels Vs King Kong b*stard Bundy from Raw, or 1-2-3 Kid vs Hakushi from SummerSlam and so on. Vince McMahon will always believe in-ring isn't the be all/end all, because when he was actually selling it, nobody was buying.
Which Was Worse?: 2020