The WWE Series: 1) Daniel Bryan

[Adam Rush]

What kind of investment has this man been for the WWE so far? Positive, neutral, or negative?

I say he's been a huge positive, as well as a breakout superstar. Who would have thought that "YES!" would become a global phenomenom? Daniel Bryan is also the most complete wrestler in the WWE. He can fly high, he has technical ability, he's fast, and he's a submission specialist. And let's not forget, he is a former World champ.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Poop Master Flex]

For Daniel Bryan I think he has been a very positive investment for the WWE.

When he first started out in WWE I honestly believe the only thing they thought they had with Daniel Bryan was a solid wrestler that could have consistently good matches. I don't think they saw a marketable character and someone who had charisma and good mic skills, I thought the same thing in the WWE environment. I knew he could get the job done on the mic and had a decent character but wasn't optimistic about the guy being a big part of WWE programming at any point. I until the beginning of this year looked at Daniel Bryan as a good mechanic but a good mechanic doesn't translate into a big deal, they are needed but not in the forefront.

Whether it was by complete accident or on purpose they really hit on something with Daniel Bryan. When he finally became heel he was off to the races and never looked back. He's now flirting with becoming a permanent main eventer and in my opinion is the best full time heel the WWE currently has and frankly I would like to see him get another run with the World or WWE title because he deserves it.

Daniel Bryan has become so much more than what was expected from him (in my opinion anyway) and anyone who does more than is expected is a good investment.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

i voted positive. i have always liked the guy since his days as the american dragon. but if i am being truthful i did not think he would make it in the wwe. yes he is good on the mic and is a great in ring wrestler. but with his size i thought he would of been released or back at fcw after the first season of nxt. im just glad to see i was wrong and hope that he continues his run in wwe.

 

[HBsam31]

Definitely would have to say positive. When he first came I thought he might get a mid card run at best, and then fall off the radar. I knew he was a talented performer, but I didn;t think he would fit Vince's mold. Since then he has really taken off, and YES has caught on more than anyone could have expected. He is on the brink of being a permanent fixture in the main event, and I see more title runs in his future for sure.

 

[SpoodBeest]

To think of the man as anything other than a positive investment would be crazy. Especially since his true breakout as a star this year, getting over initally as the cowardly World Heavyweight Champion, transitioning into YES!amania, not to mention all the merchandise he's been selling because of said phenomena and all the top tier matches he's been in this year, he has certainly been nothing short of a positive investment for the WWE.

He is still one of very few compelling characters on TV and I'm intrigued too see where AJ's continual torture to Bryan is going to lead to and ultimately pay off towards in the end. His segments are usually among the best on any programming he's one and I look forward to see where one Daniel Bryan moves on from here. His future with the WWE has never been brighter in my opinion.

 

[akrassikauda]

To think of the man as anything other than a positive investment would be crazy.

I wish everyone in the WWE thought the same way that's why I voted neutral. It's no fault of Bryan he's been working with what they give him and he's good at it. WWE treats Daniel Bryan like a 2nd string running back, yes they gave him the ball and he hasn't dropped it but instead of giving him the ball 20-25 times they're giving him the ball 5-10. They made him drop the title in 18 seconds just to try to break a record before people had a chance to sit down. Not exactly a high vote of confidence with a move like that.

Then the WWE could've had him go over Punk once and have a real rivalry over the WWE title. Those matches where pure gold why fix something that wasn't broken. I truly believe that if that happened it would have made him not just a heel champ but a great overall champ because champs need a great championship rivalry. Then they have the Rock make a fool of him.

That's why I voted neutral, it's not him it's them.

 

[Death Before Disco]

Overwhelmingly, he's been a huge plus for WWE. I went to the Smackdown taping last night and the YES! chants were the biggest chants of the night. The arc of his career in the WWE has completely changed in the past year and I think he can be a major draw, especially as a heel, for quite a while. Bryan, Punk, and Tyson Kidd (to a lesser extent) are re-educating a decent chunk of the casual viewing audience with a more refined style of wrestling than many of them are used to, and I don't think that can be anything but a positive for WWE.

A tip of the hat to these guys

 

[Kelso1ftw]

Over all of the past investments in the past year or two, Daniel Bryan has been the best one out of all of them... First person who appeared on NXT to win a major championship, he won MITB last year, and he also has had some great feuds along the way and has really shined in his heel roll with the whole YES! chant, which is a huge success, and he is still going strong with his current program with AJ

 

[MisterRob]

I don't see how anyone could argue him being anything but a huge positive. I don't care whether he's not viewed by WWE as one of its TOP stars, even if he actually is becoming one of them, because that doesn't matter. They don't have to view him a specific way for him to still be a huge positive for the company, as he has been by offering great matches in the product, great feuds, a great character people care about, and sales in merchandise, etc.

There's no way Daniel Bryan, especially after the year he's had, could be anything but a positive.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

I voted neutral for a couple reasons.

First off, I'd like to preface by saying I am a big fan of Bryan Danielson and can respect all his in-ring work in WWE.

That being said said I think a rough start in WWE: Getting Fired, The Nexus Stuff, Miz Storyline, U.S. Title Run, Put on Dark Match of Mania 27,etc. prohibited Bryan from achieveing any full potential or charcter development. I thought all of that was pretty bland and the only memorable moment I have, besides his return at Summerslam 2010, is the triple threat at HiaC w/ Miz & Morrison. All the storyline, build, interaction, was all pretty bad.

Then came that shocker, Bryan won the MitB. "What WWE is investing in him?!" is pretty much how everyone in the IWC reacted. I thought the build with the briefcase was once again sub-par. Just boring really. Then came THE BIGGER SHOCKER, Bryan turn's heel, cashes in on Big Show (WITHOUT DOING A SINGLE MOVE! No one ever mentions he was the only guy not to even kick them in the head or something like Del Rio.)

The he feuds with Show & Henry. People can argue, but a HUGE BORE-FEST IMO! That whole program was POINTLESS! The least memorable thing all year maybe, in terms of "main events". So then a BIGGER SHOCKER!!!!! Bryan goes into Mania as World Champ!...........Only to lose in 18 seconds! WTF?!

Well what has come since then???????

The crowd got behind Bryan & WWE got behind Bryan!

Since then we have had MUCH BETTER Promo & Character work, AN AMAZING 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match, A GREAT feud with Punk for the WWE Title, And Mini feud w/Kane which looks to be evolving, MUCH better scene & character building between him & AJ, and The all around AJ storyline got WORLDS BETTER!

So I think He has some bad & some good so far. If he continues in the direction he is in I think he should be WWE champ for a long time to come!

But there is one thing that concerns me......CHARLIE SHEEN!

This is a huge crossroads for Bryan right now in his career. Guys like HHH, Lesnar, The Rock are all somewhat returning and beating him out of a main event spot. Will teaming against Charlie Sheen damage his career or be the one thing that keeps him relevant?!?! I don't know, and the whole "Hollywood Star Angle" scares me for Bryan, but what scares me more is what would he do otherwise, just feud with Kane?? I like that as a wrestling fan but WWE wants "Big Angles & Hollwood Star Qulaity". I'm scared playing pet to WWE and just doing whatever stupid thing they want may be in Bryan's best interest right now.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

To vote for anything but positive is 100% laughable. To vote negative, which one peson has according to the poll results thus far, I think you have to be either just a flat out hater or haven't watched Daniel Bryan over the course of the past 9 months.

After WrestleMania last year, I'm sure a lot of people were expecting Bryan to be future endeavored. He wasn't particularly hot at the time, people were saying that he didn't have what it took to get to another level, didn't have the "look" didn't have the charisma and all that. Then, Bryan comes out of nowhere to win the SD! MITB match to shock everybody and generate a ton of buzz. Almost immediately afterward, a lot of people predict Bryan as the first one to unsuccessfully cash in his MITB briefcase. In December of last year, Bryan again shocks everyone by cashing in and becoming World Heavyweight Champion. Again, here come the naysayers predicting Bryan would drop the title in a couple of days. And yet again, Bryan proved critics wrong by holding the title for more than 4 months and having a credible run as champion. During that time, Bryan had very good matches against guys like Big Show & Mark Henry. The fact that Bryan was able to carry two man of generally limited ability inside the ring to three star plus matches was an indicator of how good he actually is. Like others, I'm not crazy about Bryan dropping the title at WM the way he did. However, Daniel Bryan has become a bigger star post WrestleMania than he was prior to WM when he was World Heavyweight Champion. Bryan's "Yes!" chant has kind of become the new "What?" and is a lot more fun in my view, his merchendise is selling through the roof, he's had prominent roles in some of the WWE's biggest feuds, he's gotten lots of television time, especially over the past few months, and continues to draw great responses from crowds wherever he goes. His segments on Raw usually draw well, especially over the past few months.

Since December, Daniel Bryan has spent all of his time, except for the past few weeks, has wrestled in some of the best matches of the year in any company, has developed & improved himself vastly on the mic & as an on-screen character, is one of the most consistently top performing and over stars on the WWE roster and frequently generates top interest among fans. You don't even have to be a fan of Daniel Bryan to acknowledge that he's been on a huge run since December. Even if you don't like everything that he's been involved in doing, which is understadable and to be naturally expected, that doesn't take away from the positives he has accomplished.

I don't know if Bryan is one of THE top guys on the same level as John Cena right now, but he's definitely someone WWE has a lot of confidence, especially as an in-ring performer. If the WWE brass wasn't pleased with the results, his push would've been stopped a long time ago just like CM Punk's WWE Championship run wouldn't have lasted nearly 8.5 months if WWE wasn't pleased.

 

[xavyer]

He's been positive and then some, when i saw him at Ring of Honor, i liked his style, but when he first showed up in the WWE, i didn't think he would get passed mid card, not because he wasn't goob, because of the WWE, but he prooved everyone wrong, and that's an awesome thing, his talent, charisma and determination won everyone over, kudos to Bryan.......

 

[Airehk]

WWE had to rehire him after the necktie incident, he was too loved. Once WWE caved and rehired him, they WWE'd him up and he is who he is now. But he established a brand for himself. It may be a little vanilla, but its there. So it is a positive mostly.

 

[Teddy Irving]

I voted positive here. Bryan is now one of the top heels in WWE today, basing this on full time wrestlers, the only people ahead of him are arguably Punk, Del Rio and Show. Personally I feel he is a better heel than Show and Del Rio but that's just my opinion.

Bryan's Yes! chant is done regularly at shows which means that he is popular, although he still gets booed due to being a heel. The fact that people react to him and use his catchphrase show that he was a good investment and has been a positive for WWE. He may not have started out on fire but he is now and WWE having him has been a positive for them, they have got some super matches out of him and have made a ton of money from him and he is still a hot commodity

 

[Pedigree1]

YES YES YES YES! To think of anything of anything but positive of D Bryan not being positive is just wrong! From the moment he appeared on television as part of NXT season 1 to the nexus DB was destined for greatness. Yah he doesnt have the look that vinnie mac likes but man oh man can he wrestle.

Yes at first i thought of him as a mid card guy!! A guy who would never win the big one but when he had his heel turn that changed him completely! The only thing i wish that would have happened is not him losing the title the way he did. That was just wrong but since he gets the loudest pop of anyone in the arena! I find myself chanting yes everytime he walks out.

He has been a huge positive for the E. For the record i hope he does wrestle Charlie Sheen at Summerslam and slaps the yes lock on him

 

[GrandSword]

Bryan is far more than the mere word "positive". Not even the IWC, the RoHbots or anyone else would have dreamed in a million years that Bryan would have walked into Wrestlemania the Wordl Heavyweight Champion.

It has already been stated numeroous times how over his Yes chant is, his size, his indy tag etc etc etc... and he is still has to be the most over heel in the WWE. An absolutely amazing accomplishment!

 

[Aquaman6686]

I'm not a big fan of Daniel Bryan, but there's no doubt his WWE career has been positive, both for him and the company. His first year and a half with WWE were bland and forgettable, but his heel turn did wonders for him. He finally became interesting, and working with veteran WWE talents has helped Bryan improve his mic skills dramatically. I still find his in-ring skills to be vastly overrated, but I think he has improved since coming to WWE. Overall I'd say he's definitely a positive.

 

[Ethelion]

So far, Daniel Bryan has been a positive investment for the WWE. A huge posititive in fact. But he wasn't always was.

When I first saw him in WWE NXT, I figured he was going to win the whole thing since he was the guy who stood out the most - but he was eliminated shortly due to his "lack of self-confidence". Despite this, he was still over with the fans. Then after his one-night Nexus stint, he was fired from the WWE for choking Justin Roberts with the latter's necktie. Despite this, he was still over with the fans. That's why the company hired him back at SummerSlam 2010, but ever since, he's lost his luster. He started becoming a hot commodity again after winning the Money in the Bank in its inaugural pay-per-view, then reached the peak of his popularity by cashing in his MITB Briefcase to win the World Heavyweight Championship and by becoming heel in the process.

I actually expected him to be a mid-carder at best since his popularity wasn't that high when he first started, but indeed, who would have thought that "YES!" would be so over?

 

[Jabroni Drive]

Of course he's been a positive i mean the guy lost the world title in 18 seconds at WrestleMania and in a few short weeks after became one of most over guys in the company. Also since Mania hes moved leaps and bounds his matches with Punk were excellent the segments with Aj have also been brilliant. But like someone said i'm also worried about this Charlie Sheen thing i mean Celeb/Wrestler matches are usually bad but how damaging would be for Bryan not only to lose to a celeb but to Celeb who at times can barely string a sentence together.

 

[Manof1,004Holds]

Yeah, it's kind of a no-brainer here I voted positive. How could you not? The last couple of months he has been a staple on WWE television. Also he has had some of the BEST matches with CM Punk in recent years. Of course I and a lot of people weren't happy about him losing the title in 18 seconds.

But, yeah the guy has come so far since then. I mean he's main-eventing Raws and Smackdowns, and I think it's only a matter of time when he's in a program with John Cena.

 

[BigThunder]

He really found his footing with his feud with Mark Henry and he's skyrocketed since then. Arguably the biggest positive in WWE at the moment. Great ringwork, he's carried feuds with Show, Shamus's matches with him are probably the best he's ever had, and a great feud with Punk. WWE even had enough confidence to put him in with the Rock.

He should be one of the company breakouts for years to come. I can't wait for a Cena/Bryan program to start.

 

[R.K.O]

I think Bryan has been a huge positive for sure. He had stood out ever since NXT, he was so popular to the point the WWE hired him back after firing him. That was all before his heel turn which made him rise to even higher levels. Everyone including me had doubts about his mic skills but he had really shone in that area too, his first promo about Michael Cole back in NXT had me thinking "wow, I didn't know he was that good", later on he improved even more and of course the YESmania which has given him a unique style in promos.

Now he is one of the most over guys in the roster despite being heel, sells merchandise and is one step away from being a full time main eventer. To say anything but positive would be questionable.

 

[Sheik-mon]

100% positive... Incredible year or so he has had. Matches, promos, charisma, i think he's incredible and the total package, this week's raw felt like the Daniel Bryan hour. loved it!

 

[ultramattman]

It's almost funny that someone would bother to ask. Of course Daniel Bryan's been a net positive. He's one of the most popular wrestlers in the whole company. For pete's sake, Bryan's wrestled in nothing but world championship matches for like eight months.

 

[midgensa]

Obviously, this has been one of the best investments the WWE has made in a long long time.

He not only is hugely over ... he has gotten to legit main event status SUPER quickly. They did not have to invest any real mid-card program in him at all, they just let him be him and he elevated past all of that shit.

Mind-boggling when you think about it. I thought for sure this was a guy the WWE would misuse and shit away ... but he has been perfect and something they desperately needed.

He is just another cog in the wheel showing that wrestlers don't all HAVE to be bodybuilders and huge guys ... that legitimate champions do not HAVE to be mega huge monsters.

There is not much else to say. Daniel Bryan would some up whether or not he has been positive best.

YES! YES! YES!