My name is Josh, and I am in an abusive relationship. I am a fan of pro wrestling.
On January 26, 2014, a revolution began. Fed up with WWE’s decisions as to who should be “the face of the company”, fans at the Royal Rumble in Pittsburgh had enough. During the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match, the crowd booed the participants and cheered for anything but the match in front of them. In the midst of “This is awful” and “Boring” chants, the constant theme kept coming back to Daniel Bryan. The second half of 2013 had become all about how Daniel Bryan was screwed out of his chances for the WWE Championship, and the diversion caused by Bray Wyatt seemed to be exactly that. We were supposed to forget about what happened to Daniel Bryan, and we were supposed to shift our focus to guys like John Cena and Randy Orton, and… Batista.
Batista made his triumphant(?) return the previous Monday during Raw. The initial reaction was of fanfare, but nowhere near the level of what Daniel Bryan gets on any regular old night. The Animal’s return was off to a rocky start, and it would only get worse at the Royal Rumble. When Rey Mysterio’s music hit as entrant #30 and Daniel Bryan was guaranteed to not make an appearance in the match, all hell broke loose. The perennial babyface king of lucha libre got booed harder than he’s probably ever been booed. Sheamus, who earlier returned to cheers, tried to get the crowd behind his Brogue Kick – instead met with “No! No! No!” chants. Down became up and up became down. When we were left with Batista and Roman Reigns in the ring, the crowd was nearly unanimous on the side of the big man from The Shield. Batista had a shocked look on his face as the crowd turned against him in his moment of celebration. Instead of triumphantly pointing at the WrestleMania sign, he looked frustrated as he did it while talking smack towards the unaccepting crowd. Seriously.. How did we get to this point?
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
A Worked Shoot
This was not the first instance of a crowd revolting against WWE’s creative direction. WrestleMania XXIX was hardly awe inspiring in terms of interesting storylines, including the headlining John Cena vs The Rock match for the WWE Championship. If WWE wasn’t going to keep things interesting, the crowd on the following night’s Raw decided that they would. They hijacked various segments and even matches, diverting attention towards themselves when they just didn’t care what was happening in the ring. Sheamus and Randy Orton tried to overcome it, but the power of the crowd was just too strong. After that night, things just haven’t been the same.
In the waning months of 2013, each PPV seemed to be centered around making decisions that are “Best for Business” – which a large portion of the fanbase took to mean “Daniel Bryan can’t be champion because creative doesn’t believe in his ability to draw”. WWE even built this into their storylines, as Daniel Bryan was screwed out of title opportunities in many different ways and we got stuck with horrific bouts like Randy Orton vs The Big Show that had little to no buy in and turned into a travesty of in ring product. Meanwhile, Daniel Bryan played his role and did his best to steal the show consistently. Surely, they couldn’t forget about him? Surely, this is all coming to a head and he’s going to get his WrestleMania moment, right? There can’t be any other explanation for not cashing in on a wrestler who gets pops that are on the same level as Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The #YesMovement is real. …Right?
Don’t Trust Anyone
As we started down the collective Road to WrestleMania, various potential cards for that event began to leak online. Much of the talk was about a potential Batista vs Brock Lesnar main event for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Most people didn’t want to believe it. Daniel Bryan HAS to have his shot, right? He HAS to have his moment, where 70000+ fans would chant “YES!” in unison to celebrate him reaching the pinnacle, right? Wrong. We were all in denial as the Royal Rumble main event drew to a close, and we took to the internet to voice our opinions. Twitter was abuzz with talk about the missed opportunity of Daniel Bryan not being in the Royal Rumble match itself. BBC News picked up the story. Mick Foley, who usually has nothing but good things to say about WWE, smashed his daughter’s TV with a baseball bat because he was so disgusted with WWE’s creative direction. What an outrage! …Right?
At this point, there are more questions than answers. Has WWE carefully orchestrated the Daniel Bryan plot over the months since his initial taste of the title at SummerSlam 2013? Does that mean he will get into the WWE Heavyweight Championship match after all? Maybe it doesn’t matter how much was orchestrated versus a change in direction because of fan reaction, as long as we get there. Or is there a little too much truth to how 2013 played out for our bearded hero? Does WWE not believe in his ability to draw on the industry’s biggest stage this year in New Orleans, despite how he is received by the crowd every damn week? Will he get bumped down the card to face someone lame, like Sheamus? What is the deal???
It Doesn’t Matter!
You know what matters? We are talking about it, and we are spending a lot of time and effort talking about it. We’re talking about the fuzzy lines between reality and kayfabe. It’s really hard to tell what is what these days, and you know what? I’m okay with that. I’m more than okay with that! It’s like I’m 10 years old again – it’s still real to me, dammit!
A big part of me truly believes that Daniel Bryan will get his moment. That’s why I’m invested in what’s going on right now. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what WrestleMania is ultimately going to look like, despite what I’ve been told and what sort of cards have been “leaked” online. My hopes and dreams remain alive… for the moment. I’ve been disappointed in WWE’s decisions in the past. Hopefully things work out this time.
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters – nothing really matters to me
This morning, news broke about CM Punk’s growing unrest over WWE’s creative direction. He has reportedly told Vince he is taking time off and now is not a part of any booking plans as we head towards WrestleMania. How much of even that is true? Will Punk make his triumphant return to kick Triple H in the face, while Daniel Bryan takes on the main stage? Or is this legit, and will Punk just not be around… for a while?
The drama has shifted from a 100% on screen product to a mix of real life and scripted reality. Does it suck sometimes? Of course. Does it piss us off? Yeah. Good. That’s emotion. That’s investment in being a fan of pro wrestling. You can’t have triumph without tragedy, but maybe there’s just been way too much tragedy as of late to make up for it.
Hopefully this story ends on a happy note. Hopefully my abusive partner that is WWE makes amends and “makes things right”. Right now, I watch because I hope. Maybe I’m a sucker. …In the end, we are all marks. Or, at least I am.
Great article!
Punk is what brought me back into the fold, and if he truly has left, it is going to effect my decision to purchase the network going forward.
I mentioned this before in an email and it still holds true in my opinion: Bryan has been one of the most consistently pushed, steadily relevant wrestlers of the past decade. He’ll be fine, we’ll be fine, and the world will keep turning.
He closed the show again this past Monday, and got more screentime than Batista, yet people insist he’s being pushed aside. From NXT to now, he’s been in relevant positions and angles, yet people insist he’s being “buried” every step of the way. Being pushed doesn’t mean reigning as a dominant champion and bulldozing through every challenge.
Bryan isn’t Cena, nor Goldberg nor Triple H. Part of his appeal is his “two forward, one back” struggle toward the inevitable accomplishment of his goals. It’s worked for the past four years; why are fans acting shocked and appalled about it now?
I may not speak for the whole of the IWC, but from my point of view he certainly isn’t being pushed aside (or even buried, as many would say). He’s in prominent storylines, but the problem is that he never got a resolution to his struggles in the second half of 2013. What’s the payoff vs The Authority and when will he get his shot? It should be a consistent theme to what he does every week. To be fair, it has been centered around that – but if the payoff doesn’t come sooner than later they really risk losing the momentum they’ve built up. Just one man’s opinion, though. They’ve been doing this stuff for decades – I have to trust it will end up being quite satisfying when it does reach its climax.