Hello WrassleGAF visitor,
Let me tell you a tale. A tale of a man, he was not the greatest of men. No, in fact he was just a regular guy like you and me. He wasn't tall, he wasn't particularly pretty. In a crowd, he wouldn't even stand out at all. This man was Daniel Bryan.
Daniel Bryan had one dream in life, to become a professional wrestler, so as soon as he was able to, he enrolled in wrestling school. And mind you, Daniel Bryan was no goof, he enrolled in the wrestling school of arguably the best wrestler in the entire world, Shawn “HBK” Michaels. For years after, Daniel Bryan worked in the independent wrestling scene, honing his craft. And Daniel Bryan got good, very good. And years later was known around the world as one of the best technical wrestlers in the world. He was not so average anymore, that was for sure.
This did not go unnoticed, not even by the evil monster corporation known as WWE. And in 2010, Daniel Bryan debuted on WWE television. People saw his wrestling skills and were amazed, but often wondered wether he had to charisma to take him to the top. This in a big part was caused by one Michael Cole, who kept telling us on commentary that we should not care about this guy, that he was a geek and a virgin and unimportant. They also paired him with The Miz as a mentor, because the WWE is like that. But Daniel Bryan kept going at it, and quickly, was turning heads. Unfortunatly, not everything would go as planned. When WWE decided to debut a load of new talent on the main roster all at once, they created the stable called Nexus. The aim of the Nexus was to cause mayhem on WWE and they made one of the most impressive debuts of any stable since the nWo, completely dismanteling the WWE set and attacking ring crew and talent alike.
Daniel Bryan however, in a stroke of genius that unfortunately wasn’t entirely PG, decided to choke ring announcer Justin Roberts with his own tie at ringside. An act that caused WWE to fire him on the spot. And so Daniel Bryan returned to the independent scene. But only for a short while, as WWE remembered that they had just fired the most impressive rookie in half a decade at least and rehired him. So Daniel Bryan returned and quickly won the United States Championship, defeating his joke mentor from NXT, The Miz in the process. And thus began a long year of will-they-won’t-they booking with Daniel Bryan. WWE never deciding one way or the other if they liked the guy enough to properly push him… Until…
…One faithful night in 2011, at the Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View, WWE decided to suddenly get behind Bryan and allow him to capture the World Heavyweight Championship Money In The Bank-briefcase
for a guaranteed title run. But WWE wouldn’t be WWE if they didn’t do everything in their power to make you think a briefcase holder isn’t worth shit and Daniel Bryan spent the rest of the year losing pretty much every match he was in, as Michael Cole continued to tell us what a geek this guy was. But, in December of 2011, at the TLC Pay-Per-View, dreams became true as Daniel Bryan successfully cashed in his contract on The Big Show and winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Turning heel in the process, WWE did their best to make you not care about Daniel Bryan. They turned him in the chickenshittiest of chickenshit heels, cheating his way to victories instead of destroying people with awesome wrestling. However, Daniel Bryan is no man you can put down, being paired on-screen with AJ Lee, Daniel Bryan turned into a douchebag. Putting down AJ Lee, the Big Show and pretty much everyone he came in contact with in the douchiest ways possible, the crowd suddenly started noticing there was more to Daniel Bryan than just awesome wrestling. In fact, this guy was pretty good.
It was during this time, Daniel Bryan came up with something so simple and at the same time so insanely genius it is amazing what it has done. The Yes-chant. In an attempt to be as obnoxious as possible, Daniel Bryan started chanting Yes, lifting both fingers pointing straight up in the air. And the crowd loved him for it.
This however, was not what WWE intended to happen. All they needed was a guy to feed to their chosen star, Royal Rumble winner Sheamus. And so, Sheamus versus Daniel Bryan was booked to open WrestleMania 28. Out came Daniel Bryan with AJ Lee. And the crowd chanted YES as loudly as possible, signs were held and Daniel Bryan was about to become the most over guy of the night by having an amazing match at WrestleMania.
As the bell rang, Daniel Bryan turned around for his regular good-luck-kiss with AJ Lee, and promptly was brogue-kicked in the face and pinned by Sheamus. Losing his title in 18 seconds time. The people watching and the crowd at the stadium were outraged. The internet melted down…
The evil company WWE, and in particular its owner Vince McMahon, did what they did best and buried Daniel Bryan further than anyone could imagine. Or at least, that was their intention. However, the next night at Monday Night Raw, the crowd from WrestleMania filled the arena and they were not at all pleased with what happened. And the entire Raw they chanted for Daniel Bryan by chanting YES! DANIEL BRYAN! *CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP* and even SI! for Alberto Del Rio. What Vince McMahon intended to be Sheamus launching pad to main event level had inadvertedly created the most over face in the WWE since Stone Cold Steve Austin left the company nearly ten years prior.
Any smart company would have jumped on this, but this is Vince McMahon we’re talking about and NOBODY GETS OVER unless Vince McMahon tells him to. Vince will decide who you like, crowd reaction be damned. And so Daniel Bryan remained a heel for months, feuding with CM Punk and Kane over both Punk’s WWE title as well as over AJ Lee, who was also gaining momentum coming out of the angle with Daniel Bryan earlier that year. But, the crowd would have none of it, and the crowd kept chanting for Daniel Bryan even as he did dastardly things, even going so far as to try and marry AJ Lee in an attempt to get her committed to a psych ward. Alas, AJ saw through his ploy and as she became the Raw General Manager, she had Daniel Bryan admitted to undergo Anger Management for his anger fits.
Also in Anger Management under the wonderful Doctor Shelby was the Big Red Monster, Kane. There were many comedy segments, which were intended to wind the crowd down and see Daniel Bryan for the joke Vince McMahon knew he was. You weren’t supposed to like this guy, he was a joke. Daniel Bryan, now growing a monstrous beard that was slowly getting out of control, however made this work as well. And so it was that he and Kane suddenly became a big babyface tag-team, jumpstarting a revitalization of WWE’s waning tag-team-division. And suddenly Daniel’s YES! and accompanying NO!-chants were gaining even more momentum, winning over even the murkiest of marks in the crowd.
And so we ended up in summer of 2013, where Daniel Bryans amazing wrestling skills, catchy chanting and funny comedy-skits had turned him into the single most over wrestler in a decade. Despite Vince McMahon’s best efforts to bury him, the crowd would have none of it. So Vince McMahon called a meeting with his son-in-law Triple H and daughter Stephanie. And a plan was hatched, a plan so devious nobody would see it coming. Triple H, an expert in burials, did his upmost and things were set in motion shortly thereafter.
First, they would have John Cena come out and they would have him handpick a challenger for his WWE Title at SummerSlam. Knowing full well the crowd would only chant for Daniel Bryan. And so they did. Daniel Bryan went into SummerSlam superhot and people were excited all the way until one week before the event. This was when Triple H would insert himself into the match as referee, because any good burial starts and ends with Triple H. Triple H insertion guaranteed a shenanigans ending, and buyrates plummeted. Daniel Bryan won the title clean that night, kneeing John Cena (who needed time off for an elbow injury), and celebrated for a short while, before eating a Triple H pedigree as Randy Orton cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and took the title from him.
People were angry, but this outcome was expected, Daniel Bryan was going to be like Stone Cold, fighting the establishment and winning his title back despite their best efforts. Or at least, that’s what Vince and Triple H wanted you to think. For weeks after Daniel Bryan was indeed beaten down by the so-called Authority of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, but in all those weeks, Daniel Bryan was never able to overcome the beatings he took. And the marks in the crowd were told that Daniel Bryan was a B+-player, he wasn’t that good, you shouldn’t care about him. And slowly but surely people started believing this. Daniel Bryan won the title back though, but was cheated out of the title by a fast-counting ref and stripped of the belt the next day. Two title runs, with less than 24-hours total. People lost faith and nobody wanted to buy Pay-per-views anymore, buyrates dropped and as Vince and Triple H figured they could now blame Bryan for this. He was not as over as people thought he was, he was a joke, a midcarder. Not a Main-event attraction.
So Daniel Bryan lost his push and his momentum. Or so they thought. Daniel Bryan remained to be the guy the crowd was rooting for. And the crowd continued to shit all over the people WWE was pushing in his place. YES-chanting their way through Orton-promo’s. All culminating in one faithful segment at Raw. WWE were readying for a Cena vs Orton Title Unification match, the two guys they figured were the main event stars were however quickly pushed to the background, as the crowd wouldn’t even let Triple H talk, would chant boring during Randy Orton’s part of the segment and kept chanting for Bryan all night.
This, however, was the biggest mistake ever. For one, the crowd WILL NOT dictate what Vince McMahon does. He will never push a guy that gets over on his own, despite burials. And for another, one does not shit all over Triple H. So a new plan was made. If they couldn’t defuse Bryan, they would have to have Bryan defuse himself. And so it was that Daniel Bryan was put into a program with Bray Wyatt, intending to turn Daniel Bryan into a sideshow-act, and part of the Wyatt family. Bryan took many-a-beating during December by the Wyatts, intended to break him down so he could join them. And at the December 30th Raw it finally happened, Daniel Bryan gave up…
Some people will say that it is all a ploy. Daniel Bryan will just infiltrate the Wyatt Family and then return to the main event as a face. But those people are wrong. Because Vince knows that Daniel Bryan is a joke. He will never be the main event, no matter how much you might like him or chant for him. He’s not a draw and he’s not interesting. Vince knows, and so should you, DAMNIT!
The real question however, is what the crowd will do. If history is anything to go by, they will shit all over this angle and refuse to boo Bryan. But maybe Vince finally broke them, maybe this time he will finally get rid of the Daniel Bryan-chants. Maybe… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
-------------------------------------
Fun things are happening this month too!
New Japan Pro Wrestling is having its biggest PPV of the year!
CHECK OUT THE EXCELLENT OT HERE: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=737329
WWE is putting on their second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year!
Brock Lesnar returned to WWE and will be at the Rumble!
January 20th will see the WWE return of “The Animal” Batista!
-------------------------------------
Hall of Shame for December:
Let me tell you a tale. A tale of a man, he was not the greatest of men. No, in fact he was just a regular guy like you and me. He wasn't tall, he wasn't particularly pretty. In a crowd, he wouldn't even stand out at all. This man was Daniel Bryan.
Daniel Bryan had one dream in life, to become a professional wrestler, so as soon as he was able to, he enrolled in wrestling school. And mind you, Daniel Bryan was no goof, he enrolled in the wrestling school of arguably the best wrestler in the entire world, Shawn “HBK” Michaels. For years after, Daniel Bryan worked in the independent wrestling scene, honing his craft. And Daniel Bryan got good, very good. And years later was known around the world as one of the best technical wrestlers in the world. He was not so average anymore, that was for sure.
This did not go unnoticed, not even by the evil monster corporation known as WWE. And in 2010, Daniel Bryan debuted on WWE television. People saw his wrestling skills and were amazed, but often wondered wether he had to charisma to take him to the top. This in a big part was caused by one Michael Cole, who kept telling us on commentary that we should not care about this guy, that he was a geek and a virgin and unimportant. They also paired him with The Miz as a mentor, because the WWE is like that. But Daniel Bryan kept going at it, and quickly, was turning heads. Unfortunatly, not everything would go as planned. When WWE decided to debut a load of new talent on the main roster all at once, they created the stable called Nexus. The aim of the Nexus was to cause mayhem on WWE and they made one of the most impressive debuts of any stable since the nWo, completely dismanteling the WWE set and attacking ring crew and talent alike.
Daniel Bryan however, in a stroke of genius that unfortunately wasn’t entirely PG, decided to choke ring announcer Justin Roberts with his own tie at ringside. An act that caused WWE to fire him on the spot. And so Daniel Bryan returned to the independent scene. But only for a short while, as WWE remembered that they had just fired the most impressive rookie in half a decade at least and rehired him. So Daniel Bryan returned and quickly won the United States Championship, defeating his joke mentor from NXT, The Miz in the process. And thus began a long year of will-they-won’t-they booking with Daniel Bryan. WWE never deciding one way or the other if they liked the guy enough to properly push him… Until…
…One faithful night in 2011, at the Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View, WWE decided to suddenly get behind Bryan and allow him to capture the World Heavyweight Championship Money In The Bank-briefcase
(triple word score!)
It was during this time, Daniel Bryan came up with something so simple and at the same time so insanely genius it is amazing what it has done. The Yes-chant. In an attempt to be as obnoxious as possible, Daniel Bryan started chanting Yes, lifting both fingers pointing straight up in the air. And the crowd loved him for it.
This however, was not what WWE intended to happen. All they needed was a guy to feed to their chosen star, Royal Rumble winner Sheamus. And so, Sheamus versus Daniel Bryan was booked to open WrestleMania 28. Out came Daniel Bryan with AJ Lee. And the crowd chanted YES as loudly as possible, signs were held and Daniel Bryan was about to become the most over guy of the night by having an amazing match at WrestleMania.
As the bell rang, Daniel Bryan turned around for his regular good-luck-kiss with AJ Lee, and promptly was brogue-kicked in the face and pinned by Sheamus. Losing his title in 18 seconds time. The people watching and the crowd at the stadium were outraged. The internet melted down…
The evil company WWE, and in particular its owner Vince McMahon, did what they did best and buried Daniel Bryan further than anyone could imagine. Or at least, that was their intention. However, the next night at Monday Night Raw, the crowd from WrestleMania filled the arena and they were not at all pleased with what happened. And the entire Raw they chanted for Daniel Bryan by chanting YES! DANIEL BRYAN! *CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP* and even SI! for Alberto Del Rio. What Vince McMahon intended to be Sheamus launching pad to main event level had inadvertedly created the most over face in the WWE since Stone Cold Steve Austin left the company nearly ten years prior.
Any smart company would have jumped on this, but this is Vince McMahon we’re talking about and NOBODY GETS OVER unless Vince McMahon tells him to. Vince will decide who you like, crowd reaction be damned. And so Daniel Bryan remained a heel for months, feuding with CM Punk and Kane over both Punk’s WWE title as well as over AJ Lee, who was also gaining momentum coming out of the angle with Daniel Bryan earlier that year. But, the crowd would have none of it, and the crowd kept chanting for Daniel Bryan even as he did dastardly things, even going so far as to try and marry AJ Lee in an attempt to get her committed to a psych ward. Alas, AJ saw through his ploy and as she became the Raw General Manager, she had Daniel Bryan admitted to undergo Anger Management for his anger fits.
Also in Anger Management under the wonderful Doctor Shelby was the Big Red Monster, Kane. There were many comedy segments, which were intended to wind the crowd down and see Daniel Bryan for the joke Vince McMahon knew he was. You weren’t supposed to like this guy, he was a joke. Daniel Bryan, now growing a monstrous beard that was slowly getting out of control, however made this work as well. And so it was that he and Kane suddenly became a big babyface tag-team, jumpstarting a revitalization of WWE’s waning tag-team-division. And suddenly Daniel’s YES! and accompanying NO!-chants were gaining even more momentum, winning over even the murkiest of marks in the crowd.
And so we ended up in summer of 2013, where Daniel Bryans amazing wrestling skills, catchy chanting and funny comedy-skits had turned him into the single most over wrestler in a decade. Despite Vince McMahon’s best efforts to bury him, the crowd would have none of it. So Vince McMahon called a meeting with his son-in-law Triple H and daughter Stephanie. And a plan was hatched, a plan so devious nobody would see it coming. Triple H, an expert in burials, did his upmost and things were set in motion shortly thereafter.
First, they would have John Cena come out and they would have him handpick a challenger for his WWE Title at SummerSlam. Knowing full well the crowd would only chant for Daniel Bryan. And so they did. Daniel Bryan went into SummerSlam superhot and people were excited all the way until one week before the event. This was when Triple H would insert himself into the match as referee, because any good burial starts and ends with Triple H. Triple H insertion guaranteed a shenanigans ending, and buyrates plummeted. Daniel Bryan won the title clean that night, kneeing John Cena (who needed time off for an elbow injury), and celebrated for a short while, before eating a Triple H pedigree as Randy Orton cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and took the title from him.
People were angry, but this outcome was expected, Daniel Bryan was going to be like Stone Cold, fighting the establishment and winning his title back despite their best efforts. Or at least, that’s what Vince and Triple H wanted you to think. For weeks after Daniel Bryan was indeed beaten down by the so-called Authority of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, but in all those weeks, Daniel Bryan was never able to overcome the beatings he took. And the marks in the crowd were told that Daniel Bryan was a B+-player, he wasn’t that good, you shouldn’t care about him. And slowly but surely people started believing this. Daniel Bryan won the title back though, but was cheated out of the title by a fast-counting ref and stripped of the belt the next day. Two title runs, with less than 24-hours total. People lost faith and nobody wanted to buy Pay-per-views anymore, buyrates dropped and as Vince and Triple H figured they could now blame Bryan for this. He was not as over as people thought he was, he was a joke, a midcarder. Not a Main-event attraction.
So Daniel Bryan lost his push and his momentum. Or so they thought. Daniel Bryan remained to be the guy the crowd was rooting for. And the crowd continued to shit all over the people WWE was pushing in his place. YES-chanting their way through Orton-promo’s. All culminating in one faithful segment at Raw. WWE were readying for a Cena vs Orton Title Unification match, the two guys they figured were the main event stars were however quickly pushed to the background, as the crowd wouldn’t even let Triple H talk, would chant boring during Randy Orton’s part of the segment and kept chanting for Bryan all night.
This, however, was the biggest mistake ever. For one, the crowd WILL NOT dictate what Vince McMahon does. He will never push a guy that gets over on his own, despite burials. And for another, one does not shit all over Triple H. So a new plan was made. If they couldn’t defuse Bryan, they would have to have Bryan defuse himself. And so it was that Daniel Bryan was put into a program with Bray Wyatt, intending to turn Daniel Bryan into a sideshow-act, and part of the Wyatt family. Bryan took many-a-beating during December by the Wyatts, intended to break him down so he could join them. And at the December 30th Raw it finally happened, Daniel Bryan gave up…
Some people will say that it is all a ploy. Daniel Bryan will just infiltrate the Wyatt Family and then return to the main event as a face. But those people are wrong. Because Vince knows that Daniel Bryan is a joke. He will never be the main event, no matter how much you might like him or chant for him. He’s not a draw and he’s not interesting. Vince knows, and so should you, DAMNIT!
The real question however, is what the crowd will do. If history is anything to go by, they will shit all over this angle and refuse to boo Bryan. But maybe Vince finally broke them, maybe this time he will finally get rid of the Daniel Bryan-chants. Maybe… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
-------------------------------------
Fun things are happening this month too!
New Japan Pro Wrestling is having its biggest PPV of the year!
CHECK OUT THE EXCELLENT OT HERE: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=737329
WWE is putting on their second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year!
Brock Lesnar returned to WWE and will be at the Rumble!
January 20th will see the WWE return of “The Animal” Batista!
-------------------------------------
Hall of Shame for December:
