"Burial" of talent

[Spidey Revivey]

Call me when the WWE brass stick it to one of those guys like they have to Bryan.

Seriously. How can a guy be expected to "stay on top" when they have everything the crowd is connecting with pulled out from under their feet. Let's have The Rock come out to The Wyatt's music, no longer allowed to use any of his catchphrases, and be booked into a rotten angle and see if his pop is just as loud after a month. Guarantee you even he would see some of the live crowd sizzle die down. No one can withstand having all of their signature items removed (intro music, catchphrases, mannerisms, etc) and NOT lose momentum with the crowd.

Shawn Michaels went into servitude for JBL, losing all of his mannerisms, catchphrases, etc. The Rock was a corporate sellout along with Austin. Chris Jericho stopped the "Rocker" gimmick everyone was fond of and became "Best In The World" corporate suit. Kane is no longer Kane and doesn't have Kaneanites anymore. Triple H isn't all over the place cracking skulls and reciting his own catchphrases. Even John Cena isn't champ and by the Royal Rumble won't be. All of those catchphrases and mannerisms come and go. It is up to the superstar to make everything that's handed to him work.

Daniel Bryan, as I've said many times, has went from being an NXT jobber, to losing the World Championship in under a minute, to being placed in a nowhere tag team like Hell No, to making all of those moments gold.

If Vince and H weren't big on him, he would be feuding with Fandango and Ziggler. But apparently that's not the case sense he's in the biggest storyline in the WWE that doesn't have Brock Lesnar in it and is frequently in the main event.

 

[DB-Fan]

Shawn Michaels went into servitude for JBL, losing all of his mannerisms, catchphrases, etc. The Rock was a corporate sellout along with Austin. Chris Jericho stopped the "Rocker" gimmick everyone was fond of and became "Best In The World" corporate suit. Kane is no longer Kane and doesn't have Kaneanites anymore. Triple H isn't all over the place cracking skulls and reciting his own catchphrases. Even John Cena isn't champ and by the Royal Rumble won't be. All of those catchphrases and mannerisms come and go. It is up to the superstar to make everything that's handed to him work.

Daniel Bryan, as I've said many times, has went from being an NXT jobber, to losing the World Championship in under a minute, to being placed in a nowhere tag team like Hell No, to making all of those moments gold.

If Vince and H weren't big on him, he would be feuding with Fandango and Ziggler. But apparently that's not the case sense he's in the biggest storyline in the WWE that doesn't have Brock Lesnar in it and is frequently in the main event.

I agree with pretty much everything you've said. I don't believe Vince/HHH are trying to literally bury the guy. But can you honestly tell me you're 100% convinced they don't want to take a bit of the live crowd buzz off him? I just find this particular angle to be weird in that they've not only turned him heel (potentially), but they've taken away everything that caused the crowd to pop. I mean doesn't the timing of this strike you as a little strange? Here you have the one guy that you know, for sure, is going to light the building up every night and you strip him of all that in a hurried and unprepared storyline that, by all reports, is nothing more than a brainchild of Vince McMahon with no real direction. I just don't buy that there isn't some aspect of trying to kill the guy's buzz because it was frustrating to the brass that Bryan's chants were taking over segments he wasn't even involved in. I think it's reasonable to believe that's a part of what is going on here.

Also, how many of the guys you mentioned above had their intro music taken away when they swerved? I can't remember for sure, but I don't think it was many of them. That's such a huge part of any wrestler's pop it's not even funny. Especially if they are a face and really hot with the crowd.

One last thing. Remember what CM Punk said in that WWE.com backstage interview the night Daniel "joined" the Wyatts. He said he hoped the crowd would keep chanting "Yes!" and Daniel's name no matter what. I think that was a shoot where he was speaking the truth because he saw the politics of the angle and that Vince was just trying to take the buzz from Bryan. But that's just my two cents. Others can, and I'm sure will, disagree.

 

[L@RISANO]

One last thing. Remember what CM Punk said in that WWE.com backstage interview the night Daniel "joined" the Wyatts. He said he hoped the crowd would keep chanting "Yes!" and Daniel's name no matter what. I think that was a shoot where he was speaking the truth because he saw the politics of the angle and that Vince was just trying to take the buzz from Bryan. But that's just my two cents. Others can, and I'm sure will, disagree.

I am sure CM Punk was talking as a Face character in the WWE who had just seen his friend finally giving into the Heel family, Wyatts. Don't see how that could have been a shoot promo in any way. Actually, it just as easily could have been a hint that Bryan was going to swerve and become his babyface persona again.