Who would've thought Daniel Bryan would be in a tag team with Kane for 8 months?

[mike adamle]

These are not two wrestlers that anyone expected to be anywhere near each other, and yet, they've been involved in the same storylines for over a year and have been teaming for over 8 months now.

These two have been awesome for such a random pairing, can anyone else even compare to what these two have done for themselves over the past year?

[Curd]

Yeah, it's kind of like how I never expected Edge to regularly tag with Big Show or Randy Orton.

[XL]

Kind of like The Rock 'n' Sock Connection.

[mike adamle]

Kind of, but that only really lasted a few months, this has gone on for 8.

[Lock Jaw]

D-Bry's transition from heel to face has been pretty incredible.

[Nark Order]

Booker/Goldust is the easiest comparison that comes to mind.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's been a surprisingly workable arrangement and has benefited not only Daniel Bryan, but Kane, who was sort of lulling as a heel monster. People forget that these guys sort of turned face together. When you think about it, almost all Daniel Bryan's "turns" have had blurred lines and been quite interesting.

He showed up and he was the rookie that had a past and was stuck with a Pro he thought that he was better than. When he eventually got eliminated he attacked The Miz and showed an edge that didn't exist in his goofy rookie. He then turned the WWE upside down by attacking with Nexus. He got fired and we next saw Bryan fighting alongside the company's top babyface as his secret weapon against Nexus. That was the most blatant and least interesting of Bryan's turns, by far, but it was so hot at the time. Crowds were chanting for Bryan and his absence sort of built the reveal that Bryan was now a good guy again.

When he cashed in Money in the Bank, his character development was some of the best I have ever seen watching wrestling. The way he was clearly manipulating all those around him, the way he wormed out of matches and managed to somehow keep the gold revealed a side of Bryan that I honestly didn't know existed -- a side with personality and that actually far outshone his work as a babyface. Somehow this "small guy" managed to make people feel sorry for The Big Show. I remember a match he had with Sheamus during this time and Sheamus knocked Bryan to the mat with his injured shoulder, there was give in Sheamus and the look Bryan gave him as he knew the arm was hurt was priceless. Bryan certainly knows how to get the little things right.

Somehow this super-heel (not in terms of strength or how dominant he was -- but rather in terms of how he would even be the heel against other heels) managed to become endearing and is now one of the most consistently over acts on the entire show.

I would not at all be opposed to Bryan winning another Money in the Bank Ladder Match later this year. If you want to talk about wrestlers that "deserve" it, Bryan has to rank right up there -- his ring work, promo skills, character and connection to audiences is all above the bar. Bryan challenging Dolph Ziggler and winning the title as a babyface could be an interesting storyline over the course over the summer/fall months.

[Tom Guycott]

As such, on the flipside of Noid's post, Kane's recent character being paired with Daniel Bryan Danielson has been equal parts refreshing, funny, and entertaining. Kane has, by and large, been a pretty generic and limited in scope. Again, not a knock against Kane, but the whole character is defined by rage and pretty much being physically (until every layer of that kayfabe was stripped away- from X-Pac "teaching" him how to talk, to removing the mask and revealing he isn't even burned) and mentally unbalanced. In that, there were really only two sides: the monster "fuck everyone" heel, and the childlike and easily manipulated face.

But with what looked to be a throwaway, dumb-ass, dead end "anger management" session, Kane's "confesson" allowed him to essentially take a piss on that history of his and simultaneously bring the funny with dry humor. In doing that, he got a third option for his character: a guy who know's he's fucked up in the head, but he's okay with that. He wasn't the cartoony "GRR, HULK SMASH!" face Kane (technically, at this point, he was still a heel), but that outward rage was now exemplified by Bryan. Kane was now the more level headed one of a pairing, which is funny in and of itself.


Booker/Goldust is the easiest comparison that comes to mind.

The "odd couple" pairing is half of it, but the other half is the chemestry to pull it off in the long run. And Bryan/Kane do this well, much like Booker and Goldie.

They play off eachother so well; from the whole game of oneupsmanship (I won my match, you didn't win yours haha!), to being petty enough to sabotage one another, to hugging things out ("HE DIDN'T HUG ME BACK!!!"), nothing really came off as forced or unnatural. It's like THEY'RE brothers, but not in the strained childhood vengeance way like Kane and Undertaker are supposed to be. Literal childish siblings who'll give the other one a hard time, but when the chips are down, they got the other guy's back.

Although part of me still wonders what payoff would have happened if they decided to continue down the road of they were sort of on and have AJ continue to manipulate Punk, Kane, and Bryan into doing what she wanted simply because she was crazy/evil instead of throwing her into GM to crash and burn. But we wouldn't have gotten Heyman to be the voice of the voice of the voiceless, and we wouldn't have this golden tag team with the lame-ass name. Still think they should have went with "Brothers of Dysfunction". But whatever. Gives little kids the opportunity to say "hell" without getting into too much parental trouble.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

I never thought he'd be interesting in the slightest, nevermind be in a tag team I really enjoy. He was so boring up until the stuff with Kane.

[Keith]

Daniel Bryan made Kane somewhat interesting again.

Sooner or later they'll feud, so we'll see.