The Key to Understanding the Daniel Bryan VS Authority Storyline

[ttdg]

I have been reading a lot in the comments and forum about how DB has been "buried" by the Authority and that he is now going to be relegated to mid-card status. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning the "burial" of DB including him being called a B+ player is the WWE's way of saying that they believe he is a Main Event player. Like the old adage the opposite of love isn't hate but indifference.

If the E didn't believe in DB then they wouldn't had him Main Event the last 4 PPVs. If they didn't believe in him he would never have been involved in the Authority storyline to begin with. Do you really think if HHH and Steph didn't believe in him they would've wasted their time with him? The E would have to be blind not to notice how hot DB has been these last few months.

It is my opinion that to keep the Universe from becoming more sick of the DB and Orton feud they let it cool off for a little while. Come RR 2014 DB wins the RR and begins a WrestleMania feud with the WWE champ - most likely Orton - and as a payback for the 18 second match against Sheamus he gets his WrestleMania moment and wins the Gold.

For those of you that think Vince and company have given up on DB because of the poor ratings and buyrates, let me ask you this: When has the ratings and buyrates changed signifigantly recently? It's off .4 or so from time to time but the ratings usually stay the same. I true believe that DB is a big part of the future for the E and I for one can't wait to see where it goes from here!

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I agree totally. This is all leading to Bryan getting his WrestleMania moment. And based on how the storyline has progressed so far, I see it being Triple H who takes the title off Orton (partly because it'd play into the storyline that HHH sees himself as a better person to be the face of the company) leading to a match between HHH & Bryan at Mania.

This would give Bryan his Mania moment when he defeats a huge WWE star for his first proper WWE Championship reign. And it has to appeal to Triple H knowing full well that he and Bryan could easily steal the show on what should be the biggest WrestleMania ever. It's an ego thang!

 

[Just Do It]

But they've killed him off. Who is going to believe in Daniel Bryan winning a title now - and who is going to care. 4 months in a row he was unable to get the job done and outsmart the deals, despite promising numerous times that he would. It's been an epic cock up from the WWE, and young people take this stuff to heart. Imagine if Bret Hart back in the day was booked like this in 1992? It just wouldn't happen.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Bret Hart had his legs cut from under him in 1993. It worked out alright for him in the end. Well, until 1997.

Strong showings for Bryan at Survivor Series & TLC, then a Rumble win, being screwed by The Autority out of his title shot and then an Elimination Chamber victory would build him up into the superstar most people feel he should be again.

 

[Just Do It]

Bret lost a match by being screwed by Mr Fugi.

On the next PPV he won 3 matches against the then top stars to become King of the Ring.

Hardly the same thing.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

If history tells us anything it's that the King Of The Ring was worthless. Also Bret wouldn't have needed to win it unless WWE needed to rebuild him.

Fuji was also the manager of the most dominant heel WWE had at the time. Triple H is championing Orton, who has hardly been dominant and WWE's top heel by default, kinda.

Ergo:

#1 Fuji
#2 Triple H

 

[Just Do It]

King of the Ring from 1993 - 1998 was far from worthless. Anybody who thinks that doesn't get it.

 

[Blade]

I talked about this in another thread already. Bryan is now with CM Punk in the feud with the Wyatts which means 1) it's very likely he's going to go over Bray and the family and 2) he's going to be booked as CM Punk's equal when they team up. Both of those things are very good for Bryan.

I had assumed that we'd be seeing Bryan versus Punk at Wrestlemania XXX, because I had assumed that Bryan would be facing Triple H at Survivor Series. But hey, if we get to see Bryan vs. Triple H for the WWE title at Wrestlemania, I'm all for that. It would mean keeping Punk away from the title for even longer, but it could be worth it, since Trips vs. Bryan is the match to see now. And it's about 50% more likely to close the show than Punk and Bryan.

But yeah, if Bryan and Punk manage to defeat the Wyatts in a tough match, then Bryan wins the Rumble and gets a big win over Big Show or something at the Elimination Chamber, he'll be ready for the title match at Wrestlemania. I've said it already and I'll say it again, Bryan is going to be fine.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

While I'm disappointed that Bryan is out of the title picture for the time being, I'm also interested in the notion of him teaming with CM Punk to go against the Wyatt Family. Also, recent reports suggests that Bryan could wind up getting back into it with The Authority later on down the line. MAYBE, MAYBE, MAYBE WWE is saving Bryan's biggest moment for WrestleMania.

In the grand scheme of things, I just don't really see this as a burial of Daniel Bryan as there's simply no logical reason for WWE to do so. If all the reports I've read are accurate, Bryan is considered among the most reliable, hardest working and passionate wrestlers on the roster who represents WWE very well when he gives media interviews. He's also said to be among the most liked people in the locker room, whether it's by other wrestlers or WWE officials, and does his absolute best with what he finds himself in. A number of other various reports state that Bryan's also developed a reputation for consistently putting together the strongest matches on the card. The most important thing above all else is that Bryan is HUGELY over. Fans go nuts whenever he comes out to do his thing, his segments are always among the top drawing on Raw and his merchandise sells like crazy.

According to WWE's Q3 report, ppv buys have been somewhat mixed. Money in the Bank drew 200,000 buys, up about 12,000 from last year and a few thousand ahead of 2011 featuring Cena vs. Punk. SummerSlam drew 296,000 buys, which was down from the 358,000 of last year. However, it was approximately equal to that of the 2011 show that featured the Cena vs. Punk rematch from MITB. NOC drew 175,000 buys, down from 189,000 last year but still ahead of the 169,000 from 2011. Fans are excited about Bryan being elevated but, like Punk, they were somewhat hesitant to invest their money in ppvs.

Even though he's out of the title picture, he's still as over as he's ever been. If WWE intended to "bury" Daniel Bryan, he'd have been shuffled way down the card. As he has no heat with WWE officials, is massively over, is well liked by everyone, is a good rep for the company during media interviews and makes money; there's no reason to bury him. Over the past few months, Bryan has scored clean wins over John Cena and Randy Orton. The only way he's lost the WWE Championship is because he's been "screwed" out of it. Now, it looks as though he's teaming with possibly the other most over face on the roster, CM Punk, to help elevate the Wyatt Family. If WWE wanted to "bury" him, he wouldn't have put HBK in the Yes Lock this past Monday, rather he'd have been made to look like a chump.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I don't agree with the idea that he's being buried either.

IMO, the key to Bryan's character is that he's the underdog. That essentially means that Bryan cannot be the guy on top for very long. He's like Ricky Steamboat...he's perpetually chasing the top spot and will ultimately get his time in the spotlight, but for now he's gotta suffer at the hands of the villains.

I think you have to look at the Daniel Bryan storyline as a long game that is playing out, and ignore the short term blips, and RAW/PPV number tea leaves that are constantly being read. Naturally, I can't say for sure when this all ends and how it'll play out, but I'm pretty sure that Bryan gets the title eventually, and it'll be a big moment when it happens: a clear cut one, two, three in the middle of the ring and the crowd will go ape-shit when it happens.

I just don't think you go for that moment at Hell in the Cell. You do it when you know you've got as many people watching as possible.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

I think Daniel Bryan's gimmick/character is more conducive to being an "underdog." I think that WWE is afraid to give him the belt and a long run right away as they're afraid that his popularity would start to fade. THAT is why they're having DB chasing the title. I think he'll eventually get it and get a run with it but for now, they're getting him so far over by having him as the underdog.

 

[juli_has]

I dont think that a HHH vs DB is the best idea! instead since cm punk has been switching between heel and face WWE might want tokeeping face for now, and by having punk and bryan together they will make a connection. then when DB wins the RR as the first entrance, as chosen by the authority, they make punk win the elimination chamber for the WWE championship and the next day bryan and former teammate cmpunk shake hands on a the main event at WM30!! Imagine 70 thousand people going nuts chanting YES!! of course to follow the authority storyline they could do what vicky did a few years back when she introduced edge into the WWE championship match between HHH and koslov, whether it is Orton, or a new guy, maybe batista!

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Really? Are WWE fans so clueless as to try to trick themselves into thinking WWE is going somewhere with this? Since when do they plan long term?

Look, Daniel Bryan's "stuff" are over. There is no plan, there is no WrestleMania moment. Why would they make him Main Event four PPVs, then? Simple. To watch ... him ... fail.

Remember a guy who went by "The Miz"? He Main Evented quite a lot of things. He was red hot at one point. Hell, he was even one of the focal points of WrestleMania. His heel push was also very successful. Dude was on talk shows, all over social media. Remember the reports? The reports stating that he's groomed to be WWE's next "Cena" and that's why he was all over talk shows and the Internet?

... yeah. How'd that turn out. It didn't. They flushed him down the toilet. Why? Ratings weren't up, PPV buys weren't up. It all resulted in a fucking meme. "It's Miz's fault". He got blamed for everything. He was the scapegoat.

Remember Alberto Del Rio? 'Member how HE was hot at one point too? The dude won the biggest Royal Rumble in history. He was also groomed to be a big ass heel. What happened? Nothing. He's somewhere, doing something.

Remember Dolph Ziggler? Remember how WWE fans were saying he's being groomed? How they're making him do all that stuff on purpose before he gets his "big moment"? Where's his big moment? Nowhere. WWE gave him a shot, nothing improved, they blamed it on him and sacked him in the mid-card or whereever he is.

Remember Zack Ryder? Ryder was over as fuck. Almost as much as Bryan. People were so badly behind this guy that they gave him a US title run, as promised. And then they sacked him like Ziggler, like Del Rio, like Miz. Why? Nothing improved, despite him being over, so it's his fault, buh bye.

And of course, the creme de la creme. CM fucking Punk. Punk was WAY more over than Bryan, in my opinion. Bryan has a catchphrase, Punk had it all. Punk had social media buzzing, Punk was on talk shows, Punk was on top of the freaking world for a long time. They gave him a push, they gave him the belt, they gave him some form of creative control or at least some pull and ... what's he doing now? How did his story end? Prematurely. Why? PPV buys were down, ratings weren't up, the fans are wrong, McMahon was right, Punk sucks, buh bye.

How is Bryan's case any different? Can't you see that this is what the WWE does? How many times does this need to happen for you people to realize WWE just fucks with their wrestlers?

There is no fairytale ending, there is no room for optimism or some top secret magical plan WWE has for Bryan. WWE fucked it up, once again, and now they'll shove Bryan in series of irrelevant fueds while the McMahons do what they want.

Worst of all, and this is the fun part, fans don't realize WWE is fucking with YOU. They take all of your favorite guys, push them to the moon, write good content for them and watch them fail in order to show YOU that you're wrong and that THEY know better, so they immediately bring Cena back into the fold in order to show YOU what draws. Their guy - John Cena, not your guy - [Insert Fan Favorite Here].

And you sit there, trying to make sense of all this and take it up the butt. Again.

And again.

You must be sore at this point.

 

[Mustang Sally]

From the beginning the "burial" of DB including him being called a B+ player is the WWE's way of saying that they believe he is a Main Event player.

Yes, and one of the interesting aspects of following pro wrestling over a number of years is how many times we see long-time fans still confusing storyline vs. reality. We've been reading many people's posts on this forum in which they seem to truly believe the McMahons' and Levesques' are trying to diminish (or outright dispose of) Daniel Bryan. How these fans can watch WWE for years and not realize the essential point: that more attention for a performer is an indication of greater standing in the company. They should know at this point that it doesn't matter whether the attention the performer receives is positive or negative; the more camera time he/she gets, the better that person's career is going.

If the forces of authority (Vince, Stephanie & Triple H) are evil people, the more abuse they heap on faces is good news for the good guys. If the person in charge is a good guy (say: Teddy Long) he gives the hardest time to the heels, right? The bigger the push being given the heel, the more time Teddy would spend admonishing him. This is as it should be.

Daniel Bryan is at the apex of his career at this time. No one is trying to get rid of him in real life......and it's strange to find many fans that believe they are.

By the same token, the McMahons' and Levesques' are doing the same bad stuff to Big Show, yet is anyone believing he's actually broke and his house has been taken away from him?

I mean......jeez.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Look, Daniel Bryan's "stuff" are over. There is no plan, there is no WrestleMania moment. Why would they make him Main Event four PPVs, then? Simple. To watch ... him ... fail.

That doesn't make a bit of sense. I understand people making irrational decisions, but the WWE is a business, and its business isn't predicated on watching people fail.

Remember a guy who went by "The Miz"? He Main Evented quite a lot of things. He was red hot at one point. Hell, he was even one of the focal points of WrestleMania. His heel push was also very successful. Dude was on talk shows, all over social media. Remember the reports? The reports stating that he's groomed to be WWE's next "Cena" and that's why he was all over talk shows and the Internet?

And as I recall, The Rock came along and became the focal point of 3 WrestleMania's in a row. Further, Miz started getting backstage heat related to how he was performing in the ring.

Remember Alberto Del Rio? 'Member how HE was hot at one point too? The dude won the biggest Royal Rumble in history. He was also groomed to be a big ass heel. What happened? Nothing. He's somewhere, doing something.

He was never that hot.

Remember Dolph Ziggler? Remember how WWE fans were saying he's being groomed? How they're making him do all that stuff on purpose before he gets his "big moment"? Where's his big moment? Nowhere. WWE gave him a shot, nothing improved, they blamed it on him and sacked him in the mid-card or whereever he is.

Again...ran into problems off screen by all accounts.

Guess what, business is political. It's no different if the company is called WWE, or Microsoft, or Universal, or Heinz Ketchup for that matter. Rising stars peter out everywhere.

Remember Zack Ryder? Ryder was over as fuck. Almost as much as Bryan. People were so badly behind this guy that they gave him a US title run, as promised. And then they sacked him like Ziggler, like Del Rio, like Miz. Why? Nothing improved, despite him being over, so it's his fault, buh bye.

Again, not that hot.

And of course, the creme de la creme. CM fucking Punk. Punk was WAY more over than Bryan, in my opinion. Bryan has a catchphrase, Punk had it all. Punk had social media buzzing, Punk was on talk shows, Punk was on top of the freaking world for a long time. They gave him a push, they gave him the belt, they gave him some form of creative control or at least some pull and ... what's he doing now? How did his story end? Prematurely. Why? PPV buys were down, ratings weren't up, the fans are wrong, McMahon was right, Punk sucks, buh bye.

What story ended prematurely? The Heyman story ran its course. The guy's easily the #2 Face in the company right now.

How is Bryan's case any different? Can't you see that this is what the WWE does? How many times does this need to happen for you people to realize WWE just fucks with their wrestlers?

There is no fairytale ending, there is no room for optimism or some top secret magical plan WWE has for Bryan. WWE fucked it up, once again, and now they'll shove Bryan in series of irrelevant fueds while the McMahons do what they want.

Worst of all, and this is the fun part, fans don't realize WWE is fucking with YOU. They take all of your favorite guys, push them to the moon, write good content for them and watch them fail in order to show YOU that you're wrong and that THEY know better, so they immediately bring Cena back into the fold in order to show YOU what draws. Their guy - John Cena, not your guy - [Insert Fan Favorite Here].

And you sit there, trying to make sense of all this and take it up the butt. Again.

And again.

You must be sore at this point.

And this is all just a bunch of whining at this point.

 

[ttdg]

Hey, Zeven, have you even been watching WWE the last 4 months? Of all the people you named no one has been as on fire as DB has been in a very long time. If you can go back and watch the endings of Raw or Smackdown that include DB and see and hear an entire arena go crazy for DB.

ADR has never been over except with the people in the back. Half the time I can't even understand what he's saying and the rest of the time he's speaking Spanish.

Ziggles was hot but his concussion killed his momentum. But again not as hot as DB is right now.

Ryder was over but only to a select audience.

And the Miz? Really? Really? Seriously, though, he bored everyone to death. The monotone worked for Jericho and the Miz is definitely not Jericho.

I can't think of one person in the PG era that has taken the E by storm like DB has except maybe Punk and Punk's problem is he goes from face to heel too often (not Big Show too often, but too often).

As far as ratings go, no one in the business right now is capable of drawing anymore than anyone else right now. For the last 6 or 7 years the ratings have been about the same minus some major event or MNF or something. Wrestling is in a funk right now. The only person who would really push up the ratings right now is if Stone Cold went back full time as a wrestler, but "unh uh that not's gonna happen!"

I still believe the DB boat will be righted by WrestleMania 30. And if I'm wrong it won't be the first time. Oh, and finally the part about ME, 1) I am a John Cena fan and I have been "down since day one", 2) I've been watching wrestling for probably longer than you've been alive, and 3) what you don't realize is that for all that people bad mouth Vincent Kennedy McMahon, he know's this business better than probably anyone alive and if he didn't really care about the fans he would've failed a long time ago!!!

 

[laodaron]

It's all really simple, honestly. Daniel Bryan isn't that good. He's pretty bad on the mic, he looks like complete shit, no one would EVER believe that he would defeat Randy Orton in real life, so it's a stretch to suspend disbelief to that level.

Ziggler is a spazz. ADR is a snoozefest. The Miz, I actually like, and I'm saddened he doesn't get much of a push anymore.

But on to CM Punk. He had about 1.5 great promos, and the rest have all been alright. He's a great worker, but he's also very sloppy with a lot of moves. He's a perfect mid-carder with some runs in the top card. Daniel Bryan is the exact same caliber.

But, that's not to say that I love the muscle-heads. I don't like Ryback, he's sloppy with no mic skills.

There's something called a well-rounded WWE performer. This isn't ROH, and it's not some indy botch alliance. This is the show that if you can't talk on the mic, or at least LOOK like you're a ferocious fighter, you don't belong in the main event.

That being said, I think that DB and CMP are getting some free pushes right now. Getting to wrestle the Wyatts (who are for God unknown reasons popular) when HHH has stated that he's trying to pump up the tag division is the ideal push. Who cares about the WWE title, honestly, until someone that's worth a crap gets it.

I'd rather watch HHH/Cena #236 instead of watching Orton fight anyone. There is real championship talent in the WWE right now, but that isn't DB or CMP.

 

[justinept]

The story of Daniel Bryan has yet to be written, but I share the same concerns with most that the WWE won't be able to properly get him past the loss to Orton. This is a company that has a very bad recent history of failing to capitalize on potential new stars - which is a big reason the company hasn't created a legitimate star since Cena won the title at WrestleMania 21.

Instead of creating stars, the WWE has gone the route of creating main event guys. Make no mistake, there is a BIG difference. Guys like Jericho and Edge were main event guys. These are credible threats to win the WWE Title, guys who I would consider spending $60 to see main event a pay-per view. But they aren't stars. They aren't Hogan, Rock, Austin, Cena, Triple H, Foley, Undertaker or even Kurt Angle - guys who I WANT to spend $60 to see main event a pay-per view. There's nothing wrong with being a main-event guy. The WWE clearly believes in those guys - but until they stop settling for turning these guys into main eventers, and go all the way with them, then their buy-rates are going to continue to struggle.

Take CM Punk, for example. Here's a guy who was white-hot following his title win at SummerSlam 2011. He was being talked about everywhere. Bill Simmons wrote long-form features about him on ESPN.com, he was discussed on PTI .. Jim Rome even offered him air-time to finish his "shoot" interview since the mic had been cut mid-sentence.

What made him hot? Besides being a fresh new voice with the chance to dethrone Cena, people loved Punk because he said what we all thought - specifically regarding the McMahon's ineptitude of giving guys the opportunity to become stars. So, why then, did it make sense for CM Punk to suddenly join sides with Triple H? Why were they teaming up against AwesomeTruth a few months later? If we liked CM Punk for being anti-McMahon, then who in the world thought it would be a good idea to have Punk become pro-McMahon? That was strike 1 toward derailing Punk's potential star turn. Strike 2 came when they continually gave his heat to other guys and none of them returned the favor. He was given a match against Triple H and lost. It has been two years, and I still don't understand that booking decision. What I understand least of all is why there was no re-match for Punk to regain his heat - especially since the WWE has a history of trading wins between top guys. Look, whether you believe Triple H is above Punk or not is irrelevant to the discussion. What's relevant is that you can't make people believe Punk is a top guy if he's not getting his heat back from a loss. Add to this that he was then taken out by Awesome-Truth TWICE, first as a participant in the Hell in a Cell and then as part of a tag-team with Triple H. So how did Punk get his heat back? Simple. The Rock and Cena took out Awesome Truth in a glorified squash match at Survivor Series. That was strike 2. The final swing and miss for Punk came with Kevin Nash. Here's a guy that cost Punk his title at SummerSlam, and then put him through a table the next month. So what was the payoff for this? It was a Triple H vs Kevin Nash ladder match at the TLC pay-per view in December. Once again, Punk was "punked" by a guy and not allowed to get back his heat in the form of retribution. At this point, Punk had struck out ... but the WWE was kind enough to take a 4th swing with him. Once winning the title, he feuded with the man in charge - John Laurenaitis who made it his goal to get the belt off Punk. What was the payoff here? It was John Laurenaitis taking on John Cena in a match. Punk was officially done at that point as a face - it's no wonder he turned heel two months later.

Make no mistake about it, Punk has remained relevant since then. He had the longest WWE Title run of the WrestleMania era - he challenged The Undertaker at WrestleMania - and his feud with a prized WWE asset like Brock Lesnar was further proof that the WWE believes in him ... but the problem is that CM Punk could have - should have - been a star, but he has instead been relegated to simply being a main event guy.

The WWE is facing this same issue with Bryan. The crowd was clearly behind him - clearly identified with his underdog role, but after months of watching him fail to overcome the odds, most of us have given up on him because we've been given no reason to believe he can overcome these odds. So we'll move on to the next guy that provides us with the hope that Bryan no longer gives us. Bryan will stay relevant, but unless the WWE gives him his heat back, then he'll be nothing but a guy that gets tossed around the main event like an Edge, Jericho or Punk.

Again, the story has yet to be written ... but at this point, the only way for this story to change course is for Bryan to wrestle Triple H and make him tap. As Big Show has suddenly taken Triple H's attention, does anyone see that happening?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

But they've killed him off. Who is going to believe in Daniel Bryan winning a title now - and who is going to care. 4 months in a row he was unable to get the job done and outsmart the deals, despite promising numerous times that he would. It's been an epic cock up from the WWE, and young people take this stuff to heart. Imagine if Bret Hart back in the day was booked like this in 1992? It just wouldn't happen.

He was just 6 months after winning the title - no scrub that from the DAY he won the title and Ric didn't give him a PPV win. Their paths are almost ridiculously similar.

Bret was at the time a way to get the belt off Flair as he had given notice and was being a pain. They didn't WANT Bret to be the guy, if they did then they wouldn't have either had Yoko win the Rumble nor Hogan return in the way he did. They'd have gone with Bret v Flair at Survivor Series, maybe Perfect at The Rumble and Savage at Mania. 3 matches would have built Bret into being the top guy. But they also needed a feelgood shot in the arm in Nov 92 to cover that both Warrior and more importantly Davey, the 2nd most over guy they had, who had just sold out Wembley were gone...So Bret got the belt and instead of rematching Davey he fought Shawn, Razor and lost to Yoko... 3 midcarders and one beat him. If they wanted Bret to be the guy no way Hogan wins in seconds, he lets Bret have his rematch first and then challenges at Summerslam.

D-Bry is in the same position as Bret was, they tried it with him, with the WHC cos they "had to" first chance he gets canned at Mania and dumped into a lower but supposedly "important position" (Lawler Feud/KOTR for Bret, Team Hell No/Tags for Bryan) that take up nearly a whole year, then they give him a feud where he has to fight almost ridiculous odds - Bret had the Owen feud in between, Bryan had Kane - Bret had the Luger double finish and D-Bry has had this gauntlet of matches with Orton.

In Bret's case, while he got the Mania moment, it didn't last - within 6 months the belt was on Diesel but he jobbed out to Bob Frigging Backlund!!! That's NOT your top guy - if it was you at least job him to Owen and make it mean something personal or to Shawn so the Diesel feud means something, that's what'll likely happen to Bryan. He'll get his moment but he won't be "the guy" and it'll be short and he'll lose to someone like Sandow.

This is basically the exact same crap they put out 20 years ago almost to the day!

 

[BeastFromTheEast]

I totally agree with the thread starter on this. Madden wasn't right. This is not a burial of DB. He has not been demoted to mid card status. WM 30 will be his true championship moment. This is just a cool down period for him and the Orton/Authority feud. Basically he is going into some filler story lines temporarily to keep the feud from getting stale and overplayed. I'll eat these words if DB doesn't win the RR, but I truly do and have from the beginning believed that this Authority/Orton/Bryan feud was going to drag out until WM 30 for the big pay off. To all the DB fans....don't lose hope or buy into the article Madden wrote stating that DB was never going to be champ and that management doesn't believe in him.

 

[Redrum]

Well if recent reports are true about having Cena vs Orton/Punk for the WWE title at WM and cena i assume holding the WHC title at the time then yeah unless Bryan wins the RR and decides to take on taker instead of a title to prove once and for all he isnt a B+ player and hell prob needing to win then yeah he is been somewhat buried.

 

[justinept]

I totally agree with the thread starter on this. Madden wasn't right. This is not a burial of DB. He has not been demoted to mid card status. WM 30 will be his true championship moment. This is just a cool down period for him and the Orton/Authority feud. Basically he is going into some filler story lines temporarily to keep the feud from getting stale and overplayed. I'll eat these words if DB doesn't win the RR, but I truly do and have from the beginning believed that this Authority/Orton/Bryan feud was going to drag out until WM 30 for the big pay off. To all the DB fans....don't lose hope or buy into the article Madden wrote stating that DB was never going to be champ and that management doesn't believe in him.

I stand by what I said, that the company believes in Bryan enough to let him be a main event guy - but not enough to make the necessary investment for him to become a star. You've said as much - without actually saying it - in your post. "This is just a cool down period for him." Bryan was on fire coming out of SummerSlam, and if the WWE was willing to turn Bryan into a legitimate star, they wouldn't be giving him a "cooling off period," they'd be doing everything in their power to throw gasoline on the fire. That's how stars are made.

This isn't meant to compare Bryan to the top stars in WWE history, but where was the "cooling off" period for The Rock? Where was it for Austin? For Hogan? For Cena? Why does the WWE insist on building these guys up only to tear them back down once they start gaining traction? They've done this for every wrestler since John Cena - and, ironic to those complaining about Orton going over Bryan, they did even did it with Orton in 2004 after he won the WWE Title for the first time. This strategy of building up and tearing down guys has not made one single new star during the time period WWE has been using it. It didn't work for Orton, didn't work for Edge, didn't work for Punk and it's all but certain that it won't work for Bryan.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Not sure if the dirt sheets picked up on this but Forbes.com had an article last week about WWE being in a good position to triple their domestic TV revenue with their next contract. Triple! With competition and interest from NBCSports and FoxSports1. Those networks are looking for a strong live television and social media presence. I guess WWE has this.

Why do I say this and what does it mean for DB? I don't know, I just think it makes me sound more well read. Truth be told, I don't what WWE has in mind for DB. Are we really supposed to expect him to tag with Punk for a significant amount of time? Is he really feuding with the Wyatts? Even so, is it going to last that long or have him coming out looking bad? The guy knocked out HHH one night and almost ripped Shawn Michaels head off the next. Call me when Zack Ryder, Kofi Kingston, or any other mid-carder get that rub from the so-described "biggest egos in the back". Then tell me how beating the unbeatble Superman clean at the 2nd biggest PPV of the year is so quickly forgotten. And then tell me that Austin's feud with "The WWE Authority" of the time went smoothly with lots of title victories every month and never a screw job or distraction.

DB may feud with the Wyatts. He may not win the RR (which doesn't necessarily guarantee superstardom, seriously look at the list). He probably isn't going to be in the final match at WM with guys like Cena, The Rock (maybe), HHH, UT, and Punk on the card. But he has been given a lot by WWE and I expect that's not all going to go away so that other talents can start to get over and move up. Some people need to take their meds.

 

[EvG]

Let me start by saying I am a Triple H fan and even so I'm fully aware that it's difficult for him to stay away from main story lines, especially come Wrestlemania season. If you saw Raw tonight, you saw Big Show get his title shot and you saw the return of Kane. While a Kane/Big Show booking is inevitable, all signs are leading me to a huge shift in this storyline.

I saw a title match for Survivor Series set where the Big Show has the entire deck stacked against him. We saw what happened to Daniel Bryan when he challenged the authority, eventually you lose. That's what they're putting in front of us because they want us to believe that Show loses due to Kane interference, setting up Kane vs Show at Rumble. What actually is happening is a remake of Rock vs Triple H vs Shane in 2000. It was next to impossible for the Rock to hold on and somehow he did it. Triple H constantly looks back at the Attitude Era for inspiration and with that here's what I see:

Big Show wins the WWE championship at Survivor Series
Triple H wins the WWE championship from Big Show at the Royal Rumble
Daniel Bryan beats Triple H for the WWE championship at WM30

As much as they try to force Orton on us as a champ, he's not getting over. His inability to beat Bryan clean even once makes him tough to buy as the champ. I also know Triple H believes the best way to make Bryan is to pass the torch as he did with Cena when they main evented WM. Now I don't agree with Triple H needing to be involved, as Bryan was at his peak this summer. Nonetheless Triple H saw the Rock have one last title run and I believe there's a piece of him that wants to be the last person from that era to wear gold. He'll rationalize inserting himself into one last Wrestlemania as it being in the name of giving Daniel Bryan the biggest win of his career (in Hunter's mind).

Also think this will set up Kane vs Big Show at WM nicely as I suspect Kane will help Triple H win the title.

Regardless of the motives, I think this would be a fantastic way to book these superstars.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The thing you have to be aware of as well is that WWE have been "burned" a few times now with new pushes and "blast off's" at Mania. Lashley, Brock, Benoit, even Batista to an extent all blew up in their face after having major Mania moments handed to them intended to launch them as "the face".

Triple H and Vince know the way the business works has always been in cycles, much as all entertainment is. the 10 year cycle is something I wrote about on the main site back in the day and it still holds true.

This is technical so bear with me...

You have a "boom period" at the start of a decade, up to the 3 year, then things slide because tastes are changing, audiences and talents are maturing and it becomes about maximising returns for a period to stabilize business. One or two forces seem new and exciting and get toyed around with. Most recently this was due to the Rock's return and Summer of Punk.

Things reach a nadir in the middle of the decade, the recyling and diminishing returns bottom out by the 5th year so the inevitable backlash forces change and we begin another boom period around the 6th/7th or 8th year that ends at the turn of the decade as things again become stale.

Look at Music - from 1950 onwards this pattern has pretty well been there, since Wrestling began it's been similar. The first popular music as we know it hit in the very early 50's and slowly built until late in that decade when it exploded... Much like the Attitude Era did but with Elvis in the Austin role... 10 years later it was the Beatles reaching their creative peak, Led Zepplin, Woodstock and 10 years on Punk and the Sex Pistols... 87-88 was when hip hop really broke 2008 for your Katy Perry's, GaGa's and Biebers and so on...

Years may vary occasionally but the boom and bust of the wrestling business, financially and creatively can always be tracked directly to the decades since the 70's. Bruno was waning in early 70/71 so they changed it up with Koloff, Stasiak and Morales. It didn't work until Superstar Billy Graham in the mid 70's and then Backlund who clicked... things hit a nadir around 83 and they brought in Hogan to launch the new era.

Since then regular as clockwork they try and push somebody new at the turn of a decade.

Warrior and Slaughter and Taker in 90, Angle, Jericho, The Radicalz and Big Show in 2000, Punk and Brian in 2010) and in the 3rd year they try again ( Bret, Luger, Diesel and Yoko in 93, Brock, Eddie, Benoit and Booker in 2003) and then someone they weren't expecting clicks and it triggers the next boom period from the 6th year onwards - Bret, Savage, Austin, Cena.

This year I see them really running away from trying to launch a new face at Mania. Bryan may be their guy going forward, but they are far better from a business standpoint making 30 about all the guys who have got WM that far - the Hogan's, Warriors, Takers, Cena's, Show, Orton's and the like and beginning "the next era" the following night. Almost a hard reset like WCW did. From a locker room perspective, they are gonna piss a lot of talent off by doing so - or need a bloody big battle royale to accomodate them but the younger guys, Bryan included need to realise that if 30 is jam packed with veterans, it means it will sell HUGE and secure Mania for at least another 10 years. Then they get their chance...