Struggle is everything. I'd much rather see a wrestler simulate fighting with everything he has not to go up on a pile driver than the most athletic collaborative spot in the world. It's not about realism. It's about immersion and suspension of disbelief. If they care, we care.

this is what I find most admirable about Bret Hart’s work. He was never really the type to play to the crowd, or even cater to their sensibilities or try to wow them. Yet they were always so into his matches by virtue of how into it he was, and how immersive they were.

How I best understand Bret is that he, like Fujinami and Steve Grey, were as good as anyone ever at making conventional pro-wrestling (as in not necessarily shoot-style but instead embracing the standard trappings), feel like a legitimate sporting competition. Wrestling as sport.

knew youd like this finish. i love that they did it specifically on a counter. danny had just been in the border city, so him turning it around wouldnt be easy and clean. he had to struggle off the hold, and power through to nail the driver. wish we got more of those in reversals

That Garcia went for the pile driver earlier in the match and Lee escaped with a Knee Clap made it all the better (just like how they built to the ten count punches by having Moriarty cleverly escape it earlier).

That's why the test of strength always worked

Personally, I love both, I think diversity is the name of the game.

If I had the extra characters, I'd have said something about how you can do the latter while still portraying sufficient struggle/competition instead of just collaboration, but it's a pretty rare beast. When it hits, it really hits. If I have to choose though: the pile driver.

As Al Snow likes to iterate, "selling" does not mean selling the pain, it means selling the finish. It's essentially the same logic that goes into every other television and movie fight scene (the good ones, anyway), yet too many modern pro wrestlers can't seem to grasp that.

I was swearing that piledriver was not going through.

This is why Wheeler Yuta vs Jon Moxley III on Dynamite is one of my favorite matches ever. Yuta bleeding and screaming in desperation while -he- has a crossface locked in, knowing it's the last move he's got to keep Mox down, as the crowd loses its mind... peak.