Did Daniel Bryan's Chase of the WWE elevate its prestige?

[pepentorresHHH]

With the current state of the WWE World heavyweight Championship and modt people saying it needs someone to elevate it my question is..... Didn't Bryan's chase elevated it?.

We saw Bryan chase that title Against Orton and the rest of the Authority because it was his dream to be champion and how much it meant to him. That basically in my mind put over the title and how important it was. The unifocation and subsequent return of Batista "just to be champion again" should mean the Title's prestige and importance was at an all time high. Bryan won the title and the Authority unleased the Demon Kane to take it away from him to the point where Bryan got injured and after a month or doubt the title is on the line with 7 of the biggest stars on the roster right now fighting to claim it.

Where did everything go wrong?

On the other side one could argue that The title has been a prop all along since Orton was never the man.... HHH was and Bryan's chase has been about the Authority by taking the title . Orton's feud with Big show and Cena didnt help and Bryan's reign consisted of Kane owning him week after week with brie Bella doing the storyline no favors?

So..... Did Bryan's chase or quest for the belt actually hurt or improved the title's reputation?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

To be fair, some fans have different opinions of what qualifies as prestige. As with most things regarding wrestling and a fair amount of internet fans, everything's a catch 22. If a wrestler isn't champion for a certain length, the run meant nothing. If a wrestler is champ for a certain period beyond that certain length, said fans get antsy and want someone different. If it's someone that's been champion before several times, some criticize the company for not having faith in anyone new. If it's someone that's extremely fresh, some will criticize the company for elevating someone who they feel isn't ready for the spot and so on & so forth.

In my opinion, it elevated the title because people were hanging on everything Daniel Bryan was doing during his hunt for the title When it's all said & done, it's about getting people interested enough to invest their time & money and Bryan's journey to the title delivered that. That is THE #1 task of those involved in a main event level feud Hate on him or anybody else all you want, every wrestler has their fans & nonfans alike, but what isn't subjective is that Bryan's title pursuit drew strong interest and a lot of money for WWE from viewers.

 

[Pedigree1]

To be fair, some fans have different opinions of what qualifies as prestige. As with most things regarding wrestling and a fair amount of internet fans, everything's a catch 22. If a wrestler isn't champion for a certain length, the run meant nothing. If a wrestler is champ for a certain period beyond that certain length, said fans get antsy and want someone different. If it's someone that's been champion before several times, some criticize the company for not having faith in anyone new. If it's someone that's extremely fresh, some will criticize the company for elevating someone who they feel isn't ready for the spot and so on & so forth.

In my opinion, it elevated the title because people were hanging on everything Daniel Bryan was doing during his hunt for the title When it's all said & done, it's about getting people interested enough to invest their time & money and Bryan's journey to the title delivered that. That is THE #.1 task of those involved in a main event level feud Hate on him or anybody else all you want, every wrestler has their fans & nonfans alike, but what isn't subjective is that Bryan's title pursuit drew strong interest and a lot of money for WWE from viewers.

Completely agree,its all a catch 22! DB did elevate the WWE WHC because,it was must see TV every-time he entered a building.. Hell its still must see TV even with him no longer champion.. Daniels,effort,time,and energy it was a wild roller coaster ride. I felt he was ready for the Spotlight since WM28!

There isnt a fan that I know of,who is not a fan of DB or can find anything negative to say.. IF they do,they dont know shit and are just haters! Daniels Reign a shortened one delivered that.. Must see TV,it will continue to draw strong interest when he comes back!

 

[chicagokmc]

I hate to give a clichéd answer but I think time will tell. For now, I'd say he left it as he found it. Look at the last few people before Bryan (not counting the Rock) to have the title: Orton, Cena, Punk. Orton and Cena have each held the title many, many times and in today's WWE that appears to be a huge deal. Punk didn't have the amount of times but his consecutive days as champion was record setting for today's era. Bryan doesn't have any of this going for him and if he's going to be a walking injury risk, he never will unfortunately. If Bryan doesn't regain the title in the near future, my concern is once they start passing the torch to the wyatts and reigns of the world, Bryan will get lost in the shuffle and may never get the title back. And that to me means he will not have been the worst champ we've seen, but he wont be someone who necessarily elevated the championship either.

 

[James2293]

I dont think he necessarily elevated the title. I think the title being the main focus between Batista, Orton, d Bryan and hhh made it mean more. When your title is the main program then yes it will be raised in prestige

 

[Mustang Sally]

To be fair, some fans have different opinions of what qualifies as prestige.

Yes, that's exactly the point. It's kind of tough to seriously discuss prestige in a sport that features predetermined results. In the real world, I don't think someone the size and build of Daniel Bryan would be serious competition for wrestlers like Triple H or Randy Orton.

As for Daniel vs. Brock Lesnar.......forget it. Can you imagine a shoot fight between these two? I can't, but in the world of pro wrestling, any-damn-thing is possible. The notion that someone might actually be out there saying: "I think Daniel could beat Brock in a real fight" is evidence enough of being too taken in by pro wrestling to logically discuss the subject.

So, my opinion is that "prestige" is in the eyes of the beholder. While all main event performers talk about winning the title in their promos, it must be understood that championships were all Daniel Bryan talked about. Think about it: while guys like John Cena rant about how they're going to kick the ass of a specific wrestler, Daniel spoke only of winning the world title .....a single-minded pursuit to come out on top no matter who the hell was holding the belt at the time.

Plus, he had to overcome more than just the other main event performers; he also needed to fight the efforts of The Authority to keep him down, which included Kane whose sole purpose at the time was beating down Daniel.

He did it.....because the writers arranged for him to do it.....and in that regard, I suppose one could say the prestige of the belt was raised by Daniel's efforts....and success....in taking home the big prize. After all, the script called for it.

Remember, though...... this is a "sport" in which Rey Mysterio chops down men twice his size while El Torito cleanly pins men who are twice his.

In pro wrestling, everything is relative.....and matters related to "prestige" must be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Not really. For one, the guy had the title or its lesser twin at some point before. His feud was more about overcoming The Authority than winning the belt. But in the end, seeing the belts on Bryan was a nice visual. I can see where a fan may feel like DB at that time was a guy who finally deserved to be champion. I just never had the sense that was his #1 goal.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Daniel Bryan's chasing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship improved its prestige. From the moment the two world titles were unified, it made it twice as hard to become a World Champion in the WWE. Had the other title still been active, Bryan could have gone after that champion and left Randy Orton alone. Then he would not have had to worry about the authority as much, and we get a less interesting storyline. It would also have robbed us of the ending to Wrestlemania 30. That was the point that an entire school-year's worth of conflict with Bryan and the authority was building up to. With there only being one title, he had no choice but to overcome them to become champion again. The moment when he won will never be forgotten and it made it worth the wait. A title chase like that always adds to the prestige. He would still be adding to the belt's prestige had he not been injured.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I think it very clearly improved the prestige of the belt as it was the first true feud for the newly unified title. Orton seemed very much like a temporary holder of the title -- he barely registered as champion. The feud was more about Bryan chasing after the title versus The Authority as a whole. However, Bryan winning that title after weeks of being told that he wasn't good enough made for an exciting WrestleMania that showed someone doesn't HAVE to be the face of the company in order to get a audience engaged.

In short, when you make the title the focus, and there is only one true World championship, you can't help but raise its value. Even with Bryan's injury and the title being up for grabs again, it feels like whoever wins the MitB is going to be the true king of the mountain.

 

[zhaff2004]

It definitely took the title to the where it needed to be, the world title should ALWAYS be the main focus of every wrestler, I mean, in every other sport, just about every athlete competes only to be the best and to become champion, Daniel Bryan did just that with his chase.

However, I feel that after he became champ, things started going downhill rather quickly. The fact that Orton and Batista gave up challenging Bryan for the title so easily did take away from it somewhat. I mean, Bryan's challenger became a guy who lost at Mania in something like 3 minutes to the very same opponents that Orton and Batista were entering a program with...

WWE should have followed it up and gone all in, but I guess given what happened to Bryan after, that probably wouldn't have worked out too well either.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

Not really. For one, the guy had the title or its lesser twin at some point before. His feud was more about overcoming The Authority than winning the belt. But in the end, seeing the belts on Bryan was a nice visual. I can see where a fan may feel like DB at that time was a guy who finally deserved to be champion. I just never had the sense that was his #1 goal.

+1.

Now while I enjoyed the chase and Bryan vs the Authority, I'd like to see some balance on the card. An old-fashioned, I want the belt because it means I'm the best match can freshen things up a bit. Two competitors in every sense of the word. I want another Flair/Steamboat Michaels/Hart Angle/Lesnar every now and then. Balance the sports and entertainment. I don't need a circus surrounding the title every time out.

I think if Ziggler toned down his show-off gimmick he could actually fill that void as a pure athlete and competitor and step into the title picture.

Cesaro and Heyman could do that as well, which is why I'm hoping he wins it Sunday. Even though we all know the shitfactor of professional wrestling unfortunately, will.

Oh and like Cesaro, please get Ziggler a manager.