Daniel Bryan is WWE's most protected superstar

[ASKane]

Now I am going to get a lot of people unhappy with the title but hear me out. Daniel Bryan may have been moved down to the mid card and had Big Show take his place in the WWE title picture but I think this is to further to protect Daniel Bryan.

Daniel Bryan last suffered a clean loss at Payback on June 16th to the Shield in a tag title match with Orton by my count 142 days ago. Which is an incredibly long time for someone who is supposed to be an underdog. Bryan has only suffered losses in the MITB match, when he legitimately injured himself against Orton, Orton's cash in at Summerslam, Shield in a no DQ 6 man tag when Orton RKO'd him on the outside, countout loss to Del Rio and HBK's superkick at HIAC. That's only 6 losses since Payback.

If your defence is gonna be that he got beat week in week out that was further protection. He is supposed to lose when multiple guys attack him and when WWE let him get in some good offense during the brawls they made him look strong but still the underdog. Also he never lost the matches before the beatdown.

Daniel Bryan moving to the midcard allows the guys he has built that winning streak on regain some credibility while saving him from taking losses. His feud with the Wyatt's will end with him getting some more wins. The mid card spot is good because Orton(who has no clean win over Bryan) can regain his dominance by beating Show and the Shield can get wins over Uso's, Langston and whoever else WWE send there way.

Your thoughts

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Now I am going to get a lot of people unhappy with the title but hear me out. Daniel Bryan may have been moved down to the mid card and had Big Show take his place in the WWE title picture but I think this is to further to protect Daniel Bryan.

Daniel Bryan last suffered a clean loss at Payback on June 16th to the Shield in a tag title match with Orton by my count 142 days ago. Which is an incredibly long time for someone who is supposed to be an underdog. Bryan has only suffered losses in the MITB match, when he legitimately injured himself against Orton, Orton's cash in at Summerslam, Shield in a no DQ 6 man tag when Orton RKO'd him on the outside, countout loss to Del Rio and HBK's superkick at HIAC. That's only 6 losses since Payback.

If your defence is gonna be that he got beat week in week out that was further protection. He is supposed to lose when multiple guys attack him and when WWE let him get in some good offense during the brawls they made him look strong but still the underdog. Also he never lost the matches before the beatdown.

Daniel Bryan moving to the midcard allows the guys he has built that winning streak on regain some credibility while saving him from taking losses. His feud with the Wyatt's will end with him getting some more wins. The mid card spot is good because Orton(who has no clean win over Bryan) can regain his dominance by beating Show and the Shield can get wins over Uso's, Langston and whoever else WWE send there way.

Your thoughts

Do we really still have this belief? Do we really still think that WWE keeps track of clean wins and streaks and think that builds credibility? It's all about how interesting your storyline is. That's it. WWE is letting it simmer because he's probably going to win the strap in much larger fashion (Mania). You can't keep the heat up or it burns. It's storytelling.

 

[justinept]

Do we really still have this belief? Do we really still think that WWE keeps track of clean wins and streaks and think that builds credibility? It's all about how interesting your storyline is. That's it. WWE is letting it simmer because he's probably going to win the strap in much larger fashion (Mania). You can't keep the heat up or it burns. It's storytelling.

You can't keep the heat up or it burns? That's simply illogical. There are a number of ways to keep the heat up without it burning it out. It's called throwing gasoline on the fire, which is what the WWE did to create Hogan, Warrior, Savage, Rock, Austin, Foley, The Undertaker, Triple H and Cena. That's how you create stars.

For whatever reason, the WWE got away from the time-tested strategy after throwing gasoline on Cena's fire at WrestleMania 21. Since then, they've used this "cooling down period" strategy. They build a guy up until the crowd is ready to explode for him, and then they bury him with the intention of re-building him at a later date. Randy Orton was the first superstar to be failed by this method in 2004 when he won the WWE Title at Summer Slam only to be kicked out of Evolution and lose to Triple H a month later. Edge had the same fate - and so did The Miz - and CM Punk - and now Daniel Bryan. Sure, with exception to The Miz, all of these guys have been main eventers - but none of them became the stars they could've become had the WWE simply thrown gasoline on their fire when they were white hot with the crowd. That you think Bryan will be the exception to the "cool-down period's" 10-year history of failure is simply naive.

None of this is to say that Bryan won't win the WWE Title at WrestleMania. I guess it's possible. But so what if he does? If he's not wrestling Cena, Triple H The Undertaker or Brock Lesnar, then his match will be booked as the 4th attraction, and his win will be overshadowed. Sounds like a great STAR moment...

As for the thread - Bryan isn't being protected. He's being "cooled down." It's one thing to be screwed month after month - it's a completely other thing to NEVER OVERCOME THE ODDS. The WWE naively thinks that they can bring this bit back in a few months, have Daniel Bryan face overwhelming odds with someone other than Triple H, and then have him overcome them. But it won't work. It can't work. Bryan has zero chance of becoming a star unless he overcomes Triple H ... and no one in their right mind thinks Triple H is willing to book that.

 

[Headman]

Why would they continue to push Bryan when they were successfully able to pass the "YES" Chant (The chant is more popular than DB.) over to the Big Show? I don't think Daniel Bryan is being protected. I think his fall back to planet Earth has begun. This is only speculation on my part, but I would guess that the WWE didn't feel Bryan/Orton was doing the kind of business they needed so they shifted gears. And no, I'm not putting all of this on DB. The storyline became all about Triple H and Stephanie making it hard to invest enough into the wrestlers to shell out $50 to watch their match. The WWE should have made the focus more on Bryan / Orton and that's where they failed. Now here's where Bryan and Orton get the blame (Mostly Bryan). If this were John Cena he would have been the focus no matter who inserted themselves into the match. John Cena's star quality would have prevailed. Austin would have made it work. The Rock would have as well. True top shelf talent takes a back seat to no one no matter how half baked the booking is. People will try and blame this on Triple H and yes he's a factor, but this ultimately falls on the guy who was supposed to be the star.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

To me it seems as though the ratings were not where they wanted them the last couple months and they are heading in a different direction. Bryan is popular enough (like Punk) to hold his own and generate interest in the midcard. He doesn't need top billing to get the fans excited. They will "yes" chant no matte when or who he wrestles and he will give a great performance no matter where he is on the card. It is smart to wait for the perfect time to give him a run. Let it sizzle for a bit and then have him get over at Mania or maybe even the Rumble. The people will wait. That said, I don't think he is a long term star ala cena, rock, Austin. He's not tremendous on the mic in my opinion and that is one key to becoming a face of the company.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Your trolling is obvious, so I'm not going to waste my time on a long post. John Cena is obviously WWE's most protected superstar, and that's not a "hater" thing to say. Even the most ardent Cena supporters will admit he's the most protected guy. And behind him are Triple H and Sheamus who are never made out to look weak. Daniel Bryan is protected a little, but not even close to those guys.

 

[laodaron]

Your trolling is obvious, so I'm not going to waste my time on a long post. John Cena is obviously WWE's most protected superstar, and that's not a "hater" thing to say. Even the most ardent Cena supporters will admit he's the most protected guy. And behind him are Triple H and Sheamus who are never made out to look weak. Daniel Bryan is protected a little, but not even close to those guys.

You're not understanding, huh? Cena gets beat down just as much as Bryan did, that's not the point. The point is that Bryan doesn't lose clean, either. And he probably won't lose clean again for a very long time. He's the new future, as disgusting as that is, of the WWE.

 

[Toroc102]

Jeez, man most faces don't lose clean, that doesn't mean that they are being protected. Saying DB is the most protected star is ludicrous. In his case he might be doing okay in the matches but all the non-wrestling stuff is NOT PROTECTING HIM. Telling the world he's ugly and weak and goat faced and a B+ is not protecting someone.

 

[steven87gill]

I think Bryan has been well protected, the only difference between what I'd like to have happened and what actually happened, is that Randy would've been the champion all the way through to Wrestlemania without any of this 'abeyance' nonsense. Though I understand that for today's fans, 7 months is a long stretch (plus they had an OTT number of PPV's to fill) & they needed to do something to keep interest going.

Many on here were wrongly predicting that Bryan would get his moment and be the champ before the end of the year, whereas I knew full well this was being set up as a classic long term story that would build all the way to WM. Having him win at some lesser PPV like Hell In A Cell or TLC would be a cop out. He'd have exactly the same problem that Punk did the other year, by the time he got to Wrestle Mania as champion, the spark would have gone, and he wouldn't be the underdog anymore.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I think the whole thing is less complicated than we're making it. The company isn't "protecting" Daniel; he's just riding a streak that management never thought would last this long. And the company is riding it with him.

It can be argued that the simpler a program, the better......and nothing is simpler than Daniel Bryan's popularity. He's the little guy....the underdog....and he's got an audience participation-fed chant that the audience loves. It shouldn't be lost on anyone that a week after Big Show allied himself with Daniel (as the two sat on a damn truck, chanting "Yes!") the next week found Show using the chant for himself, without Daniel even being around. Simple. Easy. Catchy.

Lots of folks on this forum decried Randy Orton winning the title instead of Daniel, but they should realize that once Daniel wins the belt and holds it for a short time, that's the beginning of the end for his days at the top.

The underdog is usually better off chasing the title than wearing it.....and once he wins it, we'd better enjoy the celebration, because the clock will be running quickly toward the end of his push.

I can't accept the idea of ol' Goat Boy being a permanent main event performer. He's enjoying his day in the sun now.

 

[justinept]

Many on here were wrongly predicting that Bryan would get his moment and be the champ before the end of the year, whereas I knew full well this was being set up as a classic long term story that would build all the way to WM. Having him win at some lesser PPV like Hell In A Cell or TLC would be a cop out. He'd have exactly the same problem that Punk did the other year, by the time he got to Wrestle Mania as champion, the spark would have gone, and he wouldn't be the underdog anymore.

How can you say you knew full well how this was being set up all along when it still hasn't played out? There is still no guarantee that this is playing out to WrestleMania. If the reports are correct - and there's NEVER a guarantee they are - then this can't sufficiently play out until WrestleMania.

I think the issue a lot of people are missing right now is that Triple H is the top heel in the WWE, not Orton. Triple H is the guy that has been going over Daniel Bryan, not Orton. Consider that this entire angle has been about Triple H's power and his control of the company - the WWE Title has just been a vehicle to drive home the point that Triple H is making the calls now. Orton is just a pawn in Triple H's power trip. Because of that, Triple H is the guy Daniel Bryan needs to overcome in order to have his moment, not Orton.

So again, if the reports are true - and again, they might not be - then how does Bryan overcome Triple H at WrestleMania? The reports are suggesting that Vince McMahon will select someone to challenge Triple H for control of the company at WrestleMania. It's possible that McMahon would choose Daniel Bryan, but it's highly unlikely that Bryan would go over in that scenario since these same reports are indicating that the match would be a glorified "handing of the torch from Vince to Triple H and Stephanie." If that's the case, then Bryan would once again fall victim to his tormentor.

So let's just assume that the WWE wants to give Bryan his "moment" at WrestleMania. Let's assume that they do this by pitting him against Orton for the WWE Title at 'Mania. If Triple H is tied up in a program with Vince McMahon, then what involvement can he possibly have in the WWE Title program at WrestleMania? And if Triple H isn't involved, then how much would the title win mean since Bryan still didn't overcome his actual tormentor? That's my main issue with thinking Bryan is being set up for his big 'Mania moment. He can't have that moment and he can't become a star until he overcomes Triple H. That's the obstacle the WWE has set in front of him.

 

[hitmanpope316]

I think there is something a few are missing here. I don't think it is a coincidence that Bryan and Punk are being aligned together. Building up a relationship between the two could quite possibly be for the purpose to add fuel to a Wrestlemania main event fire between the two of them for the WWE title.

Its been done before (hogan/savage hogan/warrior deisel/shawn) and is a tried and trusted measure of building a main event match. I hope so at least

 

[steven87gill]

That's my main issue with thinking Bryan is being set up for his big 'Mania moment. He can't have that moment and he can't become a star until he overcomes Triple H. That's the obstacle the WWE has set in front of him.[/B]

In exactly the same way they handled it at (and during the build up to) WM15, with HHH playing a similar role to VKM. Daniel can get screwed out of the rumble by HHH, with a match at EC between the two, where if DB wins he gets to face Orton for the title at WM.

Either that or Punk wins the title from Orton at the RR, and Rumble winner DB faces his Indy partner for the belt at WM.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

You can't keep the heat up or it burns? That's simply illogical. There are a number of ways to keep the heat up without it burning it out. It's called throwing gasoline on the fire, which is what the WWE did to create Hogan, Warrior, Savage, Rock, Austin, Foley, The Undertaker, Triple H and Cena. That's how you create stars.

For whatever reason, the WWE got away from the time-tested strategy after throwing gasoline on Cena's fire at WrestleMania 21. Since then, they've used this "cooling down period" strategy. They build a guy up until the crowd is ready to explode for him, and then they bury him with the intention of re-building him at a later date. Randy Orton was the first superstar to be failed by this method in 2004 when he won the WWE Title at Summer Slam only to be kicked out of Evolution and lose to Triple H a month later. Edge had the same fate - and so did The Miz - and CM Punk - and now Daniel Bryan. Sure, with exception to The Miz, all of these guys have been main eventers - but none of them became the stars they could've become had the WWE simply thrown gasoline on their fire when they were white hot with the crowd. That you think Bryan will be the exception to the "cool-down period's" 10-year history of failure is simply naive.

None of this is to say that Bryan won't win the WWE Title at WrestleMania. I guess it's possible. But so what if he does? If he's not wrestling Cena, Triple H The Undertaker or Brock Lesnar, then his match will be booked as the 4th attraction, and his win will be overshadowed. Sounds like a great STAR moment...

As for the thread - Bryan isn't being protected. He's being "cooled down." It's one thing to be screwed month after month - it's a completely other thing to NEVER OVERCOME THE ODDS. The WWE naively thinks that they can bring this bit back in a few months, have Daniel Bryan face overwhelming odds with someone other than Triple H, and then have him overcome them. But it won't work. It can't work. Bryan has zero chance of becoming a star unless he overcomes Triple H ... and no one in their right mind thinks Triple H is willing to book that.

The fans can get fatigued. Most of the guys you named took years to get to the top. Austin was pretty over in late 96. They pushed him hard, let him "cool down" with mid card feuds, pushed him up further. I mean,Austin won the 97 rumble and didn't even get the mania title shot. He had that war with Hart the. Went back to the IC title.

 

[Toroc102]

Yeah, but the difference is they didn't give Austin the title and the cool him down. I think giving guys the title before they are ready to run with them is doing a huge disservice to these guys. Austin may have been cooled down but he never actually held the title when he was. Once he got the strap he was on top for good. They are cutting DB's potential off at the feet by doing this. Why not give him a good strong 6 month run? Something, for him to be out of the picture so soon makes him seem like an afterthought imo. This isn't like when Jericho's win was reversed against HHH. That was an amazing storyline, they haven't written anything up for Daniel Bryan that made him look like that.

 

[DietPepsiRocks]

I don't think Bryan will be champion anytime soon. Missed opportunity, but maybe next year they'll have something planned for him. They still book him strong in matches, he hasn't been pinned clean since June. We'll see what happens, but yeah I don't think he'll be champion anytime soon. Its unfortunate. He'll still have a great career, but they missed an opportunity at his hottest point..Hopefully he gets that momentum back.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Yeah, but the difference is they didn't give Austin the title and the cool him down. I think giving guys the title before they are ready to run with them is doing a huge disservice to these guys. Austin may have been cooled down but he never actually held the title when he was. Once he got the strap he was on top for good. They are cutting DB's potential off at the feet by doing this. Why not give him a good strong 6 month run? Something, for him to be out of the picture so soon makes him seem like an afterthought imo. This isn't like when Jericho's win was reversed against HHH. That was an amazing storyline, they haven't written anything up for Daniel Bryan that made him look like that.

DB has technically held the belt but not really. Pretty much on paper only. It's like how Austin came very close several times. It's the same practice, just different delivery.

 

[DietPepsiRocks]

Has anyone noticed that DB is actually a more marketable, and more appealing character as a serious person? I mean when he was Cena 2.0 from August until October, that was alright, but nobody was really buying it, but now look at him. He's gotten screwed out of the title many times, his own mentor screwed him and broke his heart and now the Wyatts are after him. Look how serious he is, he has lost his smile and is all business now. Yeah he's still YES-ing, but he's not doing it with a goofy smile on his face and he is very focused on the task at hand even more so then before. I think they told him to be that way so that he is more appealing, nobody wants Cena at the top anymore and they probably realized that having him be Cena 2.0 was a mistake and now they are correcting it. DB is serious and he's dangerous and I love watching it. A new side to his character, almost like the American Dragon is re-emerging in a sense..Hope this leads somewhere. Hope he gets to be on top again.

 

[shalliin]

You can't keep the heat up or it burns? That's simply illogical. There are a number of ways to keep the heat up without it burning it out. It's called throwing gasoline on the fire, which is what the WWE did to create Hogan, Warrior, Savage, Rock, Austin, Foley, The Undertaker, Triple H and Cena. That's how you create stars.
=

actually it does make sense, but he missed a word. Should have been 'it burns out' as in runs out of fuel and dies. In recent weeks there's been a slight pull back on Bryan because of pending return of Cena and because rightly or wrongly, it's likely the WWE office feels that fans would soon or were already beginning to tire of Bryan and felt he needed to be moved to the side slightly in the big matches, to reinvigorate and energize the crowds reactions and desire to see him at the top. This is a GOOD thing, as if they had continued too long, there would be a point were even his ardent fans would start wondering 'enough is enough, let someone else be the focus for a while, i'm tired of superbryan' in the same way people react to Cena always being in the top spot and title pictures, even though Cena often steps back from the titles to feud with others for other reasons.

The old way doesn't work anymore. There's too much saturation and exposure of the business as a whole and the wrestlers as people both on the job (in ring, interviews, outside of wwe interviews or work) that showcases the people that they don't need to constantly be shown on tv at the top. You can mix it up a bit more, as there is now what, 6-7 hours of weekly program to fill and even more with the upcoming network. So moving people around, in and out of the spotlight, trying new things should always be seen as a good thing. Moving Bryan away from the title doesn't reduce him, it increases whoever they move up into that spot.

 

[Blade]

Does he have some protection? Sure, I guess, he never lost clean to Orton. But most protected? Hardly. Cena, Sheamus and Punk when he's a babyface are more protected. Even the Shield were more protected for a while. If Bryan was more protected, he would likely be WWE champion right now. But, as someone correctly pointed out, WWE will take advantage of someone's momentum when they're hot, then proceed to break them down and rebuilt them as a paler version of themselves.

I believe it's called the Triple H effect. When someone gets hot, Triple H will insert himself to whatever angle that hot wrestler is in. I don't know if Triple H just wants some of the spotlight or if he genuinely thinks he's helping the younger guy. But it very rarely goes well. The only guy I can think of that became a star thanks to Triple H is Batista. Cena was already a star when he beat Triple H, so that doesn't count.

Orton was fairly hot after winning the world title in 2004, and he was very hot with his new viper gimmick at Wrestlemania 25. Both times, Triple H went over and it affected their momentum. CM Punk was super hot in the summer of 2011, had a great storyline going with Cena, and then Triple H shows up, is booked to beat CM Punk for literally no logical reason, and Punk just isn't as over after that.And now it's happened to Daniel Bryan. I'm not really a Triple H hater, but after the stuff with Daniel Bryan and the Authority, he's left a bad taste in my mouth.

Anyway, to summarise, Bryan has some protection, but he's been quite badly damaged by the Triple H effect than no one ever fully recovers from.

 

[ASKane]

His streak of not losing clean has continued and is still going and I think the feud with the Wyatts is so that streak can continue while Orton is made to look strong by beating Big Show

 

[Cena's #1 In My Heart]

Now I am going to get a lot of people unhappy with the title but hear me out. Daniel Bryan may have been moved down to the mid card and had Big Show take his place in the WWE title picture but I think this is to further to protect Daniel Bryan.

Daniel Bryan last suffered a clean loss at Payback on June 16th to the Shield in a tag title match with Orton by my count 142 days ago. Which is an incredibly long time for someone who is supposed to be an underdog. Bryan has only suffered losses in the MITB match, when he legitimately injured himself against Orton, Orton's cash in at Summerslam, Shield in a no DQ 6 man tag when Orton RKO'd him on the outside, countout loss to Del Rio and HBK's superkick at HIAC. That's only 6 losses since Payback.

If your defence is gonna be that he got beat week in week out that was further protection. He is supposed to lose when multiple guys attack him and when WWE let him get in some good offense during the brawls they made him look strong but still the underdog. Also he never lost the matches before the beatdown.

Daniel Bryan moving to the midcard allows the guys he has built that winning streak on regain some credibility while saving him from taking losses. His feud with the Wyatt's will end with him getting some more wins. The mid card spot is good because Orton(who has no clean win over Bryan) can regain his dominance by beating Show and the Shield can get wins over Uso's, Langston and whoever else WWE send there way.

Your thoughts

In the tone of JBL... "HE BETTER BE!!!" Your most protected star that is.

Listen to the crowd, you start handing Daniel Bryan more unreasonable losses and your bound to drive away more of his fans that watch WWE because they lose hope. They'll go watch the next up and coming sensation that is better than Daniel Bryan in ROH who isn't being held down as well.

 

[ASKane]

His protection is continuing to bury new superstars with the Wyatt Family taking the place of The Shield as the stable Bryan will feud with and never lose to and this is the exact reason why I have no interest his feud because he will not lose a match. Enjoy predictability Bryan fans

 

[Softcore Holly]

His protection is continuing to bury new superstars with the Wyatt Family taking the place of The Shield as the stable Bryan will feud with and never lose to and this is the exact reason why I have no interest his feud because he will not lose a match. Enjoy predictability Bryan fans

The whole "protection" thing applies to most of WWE's top stars, not just DB. The last time Punk lost clean was to the Undertaker at WM, Cena's last one was at Summerslam sure but I sure as hell can't remember the one before that, and even the SS loss isn't totally clean thanks to his injury. Big Show was a long while back to Orton, Orton him was at NOC but closest one before that was a while back as well, possibly at WM when he got pinned by the Shield.

Not saying it's a good thing, far from it. Predictability sucks and it's one of WWE's biggest problems. Just saying this thread is kinda silly since it's focused on 1 man when it's a company wide thing.