Report: Bryan's Star On The Rise?

[Jack-Hammer]

F4WOnline.com is reporting that Daniel Bryan's position in the company looks to be heading upward. The site says that Daniel Bryan has been pulled from a WWE house show that's scheduled to take place on March 8th in Salt Lake City, Utah and is being moved to a house show at Madison Square Garden on the same night. Bryan is getting top billing over John Cena and Batista for the event. Allegedly, the show's being built around Bryan as the top star with the advertising tag line reading: "Yes! Yes! Yes! Daniel Bryan is coming to the Garden!"

If the report is accurate, WWE management finally MIGHT be done with underestimating Bryan's popularity.

 

[SSJPhenom]

All that I can say and I'm sure that this will be echoed by many, is it's about damn time.

The WWE Universe has been making it painfully obvious that they choose Daniel Bryan to be the top guy and to be a mega star and to be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. I've been saying this for months now and I guess I'm going to keep saying it. Ignoring the WWE Universe the way that the WWE Officials have been will come back to bite those WWE Officials in the ass. Punk has already walked out and the fans have begun to hijack WWE programming. I mean, when the fans at the Royal Rumble were completely ignoring the 2 guys wrestling for the Championship during the match that should've told the WWE brass all they needed. Then the fans took it one step further and completed rejected Batista being shoved into the main event of WrestleMania.

The fans have made it clear that Daniel Bryan is to be the next mega star. It's time that the WWE caught on.

 

[Bernkastel]

I'm arguing this on another site. WWE hasn't been undermining Bryan's popularity. They've been testing it to make sure his heat is consistent. The last thing they would want to do is to put their championship on a talent whose going through a popularity phase. This is WWE's way of testing Bryan. And this is good news for his fans that don't have any patience and want him to be champion NAOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even so I don't expect him to actually become champ again until after Mania. But I expect him to reach an even higher level of popularity soon.

 

[Last Man Standing]

I'm arguing this on another site. WWE hasn't been undermining Bryan's popularity. They've been testing it to make sure his heat is consistent. The last thing they would want to do is to put their championship on a talent whose going through a popularity phase. This is WWE's way of testing Bryan. And this is good news for his fans that don't have any patience and want him to be champion NAOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even so I don't expect him to actually become champ again until after Mania. But I expect him to reach an even higher level of popularity soon.

Today's wrestling fans have NO patience! And it's a real shame because most story lines or pushes come across rushed and often forced. When I was younger story lines would take up to a year to develop. Nowadays if it goes over 2 weeks the IWC is in an uproar.

 

[Barnett114]

Today's wrestling fans have NO patience! And it's a real shame because most story lines or pushes come across rushed and often forced. When I was younger story lines would take up to a year to develop. Nowadays if it goes over 2 weeks the IWC is in an uproar.

While I agree that many wrestling fans are impatient stop lumping people together the as "IWC".

Any person discussing wrestling on the internet is apart of the "IWC".

 

[wrestler36]

I agree to an extent of fans having no patience, that's why I like the slow burn of the Shield that's going on right now. I also feel that should have teased the breakup of the PTP instead of Titus randomly turning.

D Bry's case is a little different though as he's star has been shining for quite awhile now. He pinned Cena squarely in the center of the ring, which rarely happens and won the belt at Summerslam, only for him to lose it to Orton from the MITB briefcase. He also pinned Orton a few weeks later only to have the belt stripped of him the next day on Raw. Why even put the belt on him at these times and for very sporatic amounts of time in the first place? Why not have him in some highly anticipated feuds and let it brew until WM?

 

[Pedigree1]

Hell yes his star is on the rise. I think the WWE is fully aware of how insanely popular DB is,you have to be dead not to realize it. No one to my knowledge has received this pop after pop after pop. Its a shame that todays fans have zero patience,i do and believe DBs time as champion is coming rather soon. Im just throwing this out there,can you imagine the huge ovation if he were to end the streak at WM?? Hell Taker has expressed interest in working with him.

Wouldn't that mean more than any title he could hope to win

 

[JBM]

Good for Daniel Bryan!! He's earned at least a chance to be "the guy". Cena and Orton need to start passing the torch to a new generation of Superstars. Obviously they both have plenty left in the tank, but there isn't a great deal of proven talent behind them. (Not wrestling talent, what I mean is being a marketing representative for the WWE).

WWE may/may not know what they're doing with all this. The reports that we get are so sporadic and back and forth that it's difficult to follow. I'm more certain that they are casting just as much disinformation out there as they are legitimate information in an effort to keep the fans guessing. Nobody likes to know the spoilers, but most of us can't help but read them. In previous generations, not knowing the outcome of something made the surprises all that much better.

It's been said many times, Daniel Bryan's popularity is very organic. It's real, not forced. I'm quite proud of the WWE fans for hijacking the shows and giving guys like Bryan and Ziggler and Punk their due pushes.

On a side note, the mystery of C.M. Punk is insane to me. Nobody's heard a word out of him since he left...nothing. It amazes me. Part of me hopes it's a work, another part of me hopes he's enjoying a cup of pepsi in a secluded cabin and we'll never hear from him again.

Back to Bryan. YES! YES! YES!

 

[Chicago1989]

While I think that it's about time that Bryan is getting the recognition that he deserves, this is all being done for damage control. You all shouldn't keep your hopes up on Daniel Bryan getting a push by the suits that have been ignoring the fans for too long. I'm not expecting change to happen overnight, but we'll have too see what happens and expect to be let down.

 

[Tyler44]

Him being held back has been a work and I've been saying this since the night of the Royal Rumble. My instant response after the Royal Rumble that Wrestlemania would be Orton vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan. Mainly because I recall report saying WWE wanted the loudest "YES!" chants at Wrestlemania, and the best way to do it was work the crowd up as long as they could (which they've done perfectly).

I don't think his popularity in the last few weeks has influenced anything to change, as I think this has been the confirmed plan for a while. These fluctuated responses of HHH vs. DB didn't have much legitimacy to them for me to believe it.

Still, lets see how it happens.

 

[Messiah]

F4WOnline.com is reporting that Daniel Bryan's position in the company looks to be heading upward. The site says that Daniel Bryan has been pulled from a WWE house show that's scheduled to take place on March 8th in Salt Lake City, Utah and is being moved to a house show at Madison Square Garden on the same night. Bryan is getting top billing over John Cena and Batista for the event. Allegedly, the show's being built around Bryan as the top star with the advertising tag line reading: "Yes! Yes! Yes! Daniel Bryan is coming to the Garden!"

If the report is accurate, WWE management finally MIGHT be done with underestimating Bryan's popularity.

They're giving Bryan a chance to show how much money he can make as a top guy, since his popularity has risen greatly over the past few months. Bryan needs to sell as much merchandise as he can, hopefully MSG sells out next month. If the fans really want Daniel Bryan, they will spend money to see him as the headliner.

 

[Tyler44]

They're giving Bryan a chance to show how much money he can make as a top guy, since his popularity has risen greatly over the past few months. Bryan needs to sell as much merchandise as he can, hopefully MSG sells out next month. If the fans really want Daniel Bryan, they will spend money to see him as the headliner.

Bryan already sells as a top guy, and he's not even the certified main event guy yet. People tune in to see him. This ideology that "Bryan doesn't sell" is ludicrous.

Although, the rise to the top is always better than being at the top. That's why WWE holding off on Bryan until Wrestlemania is a brilliant move. People have eaten this story up and it has brought tons of media attention and interest to the program.

But when Bryan finally does become champion, WWE will need to come up with a way to keep the buzz of him being champion still relevant. It worked with CM Punk. They will need to set up Bryan with a good feud.

 

[Miro_A12004]

Vince is known to take the Garden shows very seriously and still think to this day that if you make it at MSG, you can make it anywhere. Maybe he's thinking about seeing the crowd's reaction to Bryan there and if he gets a big crowd reaction, he'll finally see him for what he truly is, a global star.

Hopefully something good comes out of it.

 

[justinept]

Although, the rise to the top is always better than being at the top. That's why WWE holding off on Bryan until Wrestlemania is a brilliant move. People have eaten this story up and it has brought tons of media attention and interest to the program.

But when Bryan finally does become champion, WWE will need to come up with a way to keep the buzz of him being champion still relevant. It worked with CM Punk. They will need to set up Bryan with a good feud.

Holding off Bryan until WrestleMania is a brilliant move? Well, I'd agree with that. The moment that would come with his winning the title would be best served at WrestleMania. My issue with the statement is simply that nothing that's been on television over the last few months even remotely suggests that was the plan all along. If the WWE gives Bryan the strap at 'Mania, it would wreak of having been booked on the fly. I'd be perfectly fine with that, but at the same time, I'd be hard-pressed to give the WWE credit for the long-term story that has played out since SummerSlam.

As for what to do with Bryan once he becomes the champion, I do believe that Triple H is the key. Is he willing to acknowledge that he's the heel in the situation or is he going to insist that heels don't exist any longer? Is he willing to play that role properly or is he going to insist on always getting the last word in every confrontation?

If Triple H plays the role properly and truly stacks the deck against Bryan, then this has a chance. If Bryan overcomes those obstacles, then it could be big. But if they split it at a 50-50 or a 60-40 where one week, Bryan gets the upper-hand... and the next week, Triple H gets the upper-hand... then Bryan has a legitimate shot of becoming the biggest star in the company.

There's a delicate balance that needs to be struck with having the underdog as the champion - make no mistake, if/when Bryan wins the belt, he'll be an underdog champion. By holding the belt at all, his underdog status is immediately in question. If you overcompensate and stack up odds against him that he never overcomes, then fans lose interest. If you don't stack up the odds enough, and he barely overcomes them, then he looks weak. On the flip side, if he always overcomes the odds, no matter how stacked they are against him, then he loses his underdog status altogether - and the traits that drew you to him in the first place could be lost forever. The best way to use an underdog is to legitimately keep the fans guessing. One week he overcomes, the next week he doesn't. It's pretty simple, in my eyes.

 

[babinko]

I just find it so sad how WWE didn't capitalize on this in the first place. It should have started at the Rumble where he came out at number 1, defied the odds, and won it. Then he could have went on to WM 30 and won the title. That way it cements his legacy in WWE and also across the world. You want this moment to be so special and of course, WWE is going to do it their half-assed way. Somehow DB will get thrown into the title picture, maybe at WM or Extreme Rules. Either way, him winning it on a smaller stage than winning the Rumble and WM takes away a little of that excitement.

I almost feel like DB is going to become stale after a few months. Again, its all about booking. Its all about who he faces. Remember the summer of Punk in 2011. Everyone on the IWC was going nuts, including myself, wanting him to be champion. He got his shot, but CENA still main evented most shows. Now, DB's YESmania is catching on with an outside audience, so hopefully if we does carry the title CENA will take a step back and DB will be booked in watchable feuds.

I hope the IWC doesn't turn on DB. Everyone has to show their support, whether you like him or not. If you want wrestling as a whole to succeed, we must start supporting a new guy to take the role

 

[Tyler44]

Holding off Bryan until WrestleMania is a brilliant move? Well, I'd agree with that. The moment that would come with his winning the title would be best served at WrestleMania. My issue with the statement is simply that nothing that's been on television over the last few months even remotely suggests that was the plan all along. If the WWE gives Bryan the strap at 'Mania, it would wreak of having been booked on the fly. I'd be perfectly fine with that, but at the same time, I'd be hard-pressed to give the WWE credit for the long-term story that has played out since SummerSlam.

As for what to do with Bryan once he becomes the champion, I do believe that Triple H is the key. Is he willing to acknowledge that he's the heel in the situation or is he going to insist that heels don't exist any longer? Is he willing to play that role properly or is he going to insist on always getting the last word in every confrontation?

If Triple H plays the role properly and truly stacks the deck against Bryan, then this has a chance. If Bryan overcomes those obstacles, then it could be big. But if they split it at a 50-50 or a 60-40 where one week, Bryan gets the upper-hand... and the next week, Triple H gets the upper-hand... then Bryan has a legitimate shot of becoming the biggest star in the company.

There's a delicate balance that needs to be struck with having the underdog as the champion - make no mistake, if/when Bryan wins the belt, he'll be an underdog champion. By holding the belt at all, his underdog status is immediately in question. If you overcompensate and stack up odds against him that he never overcomes, then fans lose interest. If you don't stack up the odds enough, and he barely overcomes them, then he looks weak. On the flip side, if he always overcomes the odds, no matter how stacked they are against him, then he loses his underdog status altogether - and the traits that drew you to him in the first place could be lost forever. The best way to use an underdog is to legitimately keep the fans guessing. One week he overcomes, the next week he doesn't. It's pretty simple, in my eyes.

I agree with essentially your entire post. The only bit I disagree with, which I think we'd have to agree to disagree on, would be the fact I do personally think the entire last few months of Daniel Bryan has been the plan all along. Him being held back constantly, to me, IS the storyline. But that's just me.