Does Bryan owe it to his fans to politick more for his spot?

[MasterDebator]

Either way, the WWE is better off without fans that would cancel over that Royal Rumble and better off with the fans that would sub after seeing Roman Reigns win the Rumble. And that's still a 30k net gain over the 4th quarter. The fans that care about WWE support the move. The fans that care about their own fantasy booking do not support Roman Reigns. Daniel Bryan wasn't able to move the needle in his whole tenure as champ, and him politicking to be in the WM31 Main Event, which is what this thread is about, would be a stupid move.

"Whole tenure?" He was stripped of the belt before Extreme Rules due to injury. His first "feud" was against a re-masked Kane, which to all of us just screams ratings, right? You're simply not being fair. Look back at the 2014 ratings. Three of the highest ratings, including the highest (3.69) of the entire year came during Bryan's horribly booked title reign. If things were not exactly compelling, don't blame it on Bryan. In fact, I don't think it's fair to blame ratings on "top guys" and champions for poor ratings on a 3hr. show. That's like blaming one guy on a football team for a loss. It just doesn't make sense.

As far as the main topic of this thread, well, Bryan doesn't need to politick. He has a gorgeous wife, a lucrative job that he loves, and he's a top babyface in the fan's eyes. If he stays healthy, he'll be back in the main event sooner rather than later.

 

[DB-Fan]

"Whole tenure?" He was stripped of the belt before Extreme Rules due to injury. His first "feud" was against a re-masked Kane, which to all of us just screams ratings, right? You're simply not being fair. Look back at the 2014 ratings. Three of the highest ratings, including the highest (3.69) of the entire year came during Bryan's horribly booked title reign. If things were not exactly compelling, don't blame it on Bryan. In fact, I don't think it's fair to blame ratings on "top guys" and champions for poor ratings on a 3hr. show. That's like blaming one guy on a football team for a loss. It just doesn't make sense.

As far as the main topic of this thread, well, Bryan doesn't need to politick. He has a gorgeous wife, a lucrative job that he loves, and he's a top babyface in the fan's eyes. If he stays healthy, he'll be back in the main event sooner rather than later.

Agreed on all counts. I have no words for any observer who thinks Reigns is pulling in more subscribers, or is more over, than Daniel Bryan. That's just crazy talk and the WWE knows it. They just can't stand it.

If any one of many other WWE home-grown guys had the crowd behind them like Bryan does, they'd be pushed to the moon immediately. Vince & Co would love to see Reigns connect even half as well as DBryan has done.

Danielson doesn't need to politic unless or until he honestly feels in his heart that he won't take any more of the "crap" the WWE pulls on him. If he's comfortable just taking orders like a good soldier then so be it. He doesn't owe it to the fans. We'd like to see him get more respect behind the scenes, but with Vince still in charge that's just never going to happen. I'm inclined to think HHH wouldn't be a lot better, but I don't think he's quite as stubborn as his father-in-law and might give Bryan a better shake. But neither of them will ever embrace what the fans see in DB so people might as well get used to it.

 

[sanefan_har]

Originally Posted by MasterDebator

"Whole tenure?" He was stripped of the belt before Extreme Rules due to injury. His first "feud" was against a re-masked Kane, which to all of us just screams ratings, right? You're simply not being fair. Look back at the 2014 ratings. Three of the highest ratings, including the highest (3.69) of the entire year came during Bryan's horribly booked title reign. If things were not exactly compelling, don't blame it on Bryan. In fact, I don't think it's fair to blame ratings on "top guys" and champions for poor ratings on a 3hr. show. That's like blaming one guy on a football team for a loss. It just doesn't make sense.

As far as the main topic of this thread, well, Bryan doesn't need to politick. He has a gorgeous wife, a lucrative job that he loves, and he's a top babyface in the fan's eyes. If he stays healthy, he'll be back in the main event sooner rather than later.

This should end the "Reigns draws more than Bryan" fallacy. Also, the rise in subscriptions to the network is because of the recent introduction of the network to the U.K, and not because of Cena, Reigns, Bryan or any one superstar in particular.

But back to the point, Bryan doesn't need to politick, neither do his fans. What we need is Vince to step down as CEO. He has/approves good ideas, yet he ends up being the one sabotaging most of them. I personally had no problems with Reigns being pushed like Cena, until he started cutting corny promos. I can't be intimidated by a 6'3 guy who says "succotash". Imagine if Brock Lesnar cut a promo that robbed the entire script of Three Little pigs. His whole UFC career would be rendered moot.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Either way, the WWE is better off without fans that would cancel over that Royal Rumble and better off with the fans that would sub after seeing Roman Reigns win the Rumble. And that's still a 30k net gain over the 4th quarter.

That's purely guesswork on your part as we have no idea if anyone subscribed after the Rumble. When I unsubscribed, the cancelation page clearly said that my subscription is still valid until the end of my billing cycle and I could change my mind at any moment. That means they're still counting all those subscriptions towards the totals they announced on Tuesday. Who knows, maybe a hundred thousand people canceled. Their subscriptions will officially end in February, so WWE had to release the numbers early if they wanted to tout "1 million subscriptions".

And it's not like 1 million subs was ever in doubt. The milestone that WWE was failing to meet was 1 million domestic subscriptions. The totals they announced this week include UK and Canadian subs. The Canadian subs are especially suspect since they are all linked to Rogers Cable. That means there are probably people with the WWE Network in Canada who don't watch it at all and WWE still counted them. They announced an international total that was never in doubt and they never hit the milestone they established for themselves.

To say Roman Reigns did anything for the network subscriptions is foolish. You and I have no idea, because WWE wouldn't release that information. Especially since a significant number of people canceled and are still being included in their numbers.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Whats even worst, from report on the front page its 1 million cumulative subrcribers. That means 1 million people since beggining of the network without counting anyone who ever canceled it. So that numbers they gave were fixed just for the people to see they are doing great after that horrible Rumble booking.

 

[kadroan]

You guys know the all-time greats. Hogan, Austin, Taker, Rock, HBK, Triple H, Hart, Michaels, Cena, Punk... What do all of them have in common? Other than being really talented, connecting with the crowd and being hugely successful, these guys politicked the fuck to protect their spots.

I know Bryan is all about being zen and just really happy about everything, but when two years straight, his fans have screamed his name at the top of their lungs begging to see him get his recognition, maybe he needs to reflect that he might not be doing enough in return.

When Steve Austin was the hottest act on the show, he wouldn't have EVER let Vince say that he'll have to sit out the Mania main event because they want to try something new with a greener talent. He would have called bullshit immediately and threatened to walk. Bret Hart had a stick up his ass and questioned every small booking decision that involved him. Bryan might not be as big as Austin was, but he's definitely as big, if not bigger than Hart, Michaels and Triple H, all of which had a stick up their ass about every small booking decision that involved them.

I know we all frown down on people who try to protect their spot, but there is a fine line between being a pacifist and bending over and taking it up the ass, and I feel like Bryan is walking that line right now. He's the most popular guy on the show and they threw him out of the Rumble like nothing. He should have nixed that bullshit immediately. I don't care what it takes. Threaten to no-show, who cares. Punk and Austin have done it with no repercussions, it's time for Bryan to recognize the fact that he's the most popular guy on the show and deserves to be treated as such.

I know this post sounds like I'm criticizing Bryan, but I'm not. I'm one of his biggest fans, but I feel like he's letting me down by acting like a staircase and letting the office walk all over him. When Bray Wyatt threw him over the top in a split second, and they cut to ringside action like it was nothing and it was just like any other bullshit elimination, I just couldn't believe my eyes. I wasn't expecting Bryan to win, but I was expecting his elimination to be treated as big a deal as Maven eliminating Undertaker or Batista eliminating HBK in 2010. Instead, it was as unceremonious as R-Truth's elimination which is total bullshit and Bryan should've known better than letting this type of booking continue without a fight.

What do you guys think? Am I being too unfair to Bryan here or do you agree that he should do more to argue for his spot?

I don't think he's in no position to do that. Bryan can be replaced with Ambrose and Ziggler.

Bryan just got to make the most of his opportunities, don't be another CM Punk.