Are they starting to bury Daniel Bryan? *SPOILERS*

[dronepool]

He's become boring because of his current feud. It's not as exciting.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Feud with the Wyatt's is good. It's just not for the title.

[#1-norm-fan]

Not competing for the title = buried.

DON'T YOU GET IT!?!

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

He's definitely not buried. He's more being misused.

[CharismaInjection]

I think his point of "buried" is he was made to look second rate to Triple H and by never getting his revenge, he will forever look second rate to Triple H, therefore he's come off this feud looking worse than he did before the feud. Therefore "buried". That's what I've taken from it anyway. He's got a point, Bryan got treated badly throughout that feud and he never got his retribution.

[dronepool]

I think his point of "buried" is he was made to look second rate to Triple H and by never getting his revenge, he will forever look second rate to Triple H, therefore he's come off this feud looking worse than he did before the feud. Therefore "buried". That's what I've taken from it anyway. He's got a point, Bryan got treated badly throughout that feud and he never got his retribution.

Big Show pops up and takes up his 'revenge'. If something doesn't build up with HBK, it'll be a waste.

[XL]

Hoping that HBK presenting the Superstar of the Year Slammy on Raw might lead somewhere with Bryan.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Hoping that HBK presenting the Superstar of the Year Slammy on Raw might lead somewhere with Bryan.

There is a tremendous opportunity there. It was definitely weird the way they had HBK heel it up with Daniel Bryan on RAW. If that was a test to see if the fans would boo anyone against Bryan, I'm sure they got their answer. A lack of revenge on the Authority at this point in time could just be them waiting to blow it off. You know, since there is a really big PPV coming up soon...

Bryan is nominated for like seven Slammy Awards (and should really be nominated for a few more). Given his popularity and that he is actually looking like a good candidate to win many of them, he's likely to be a hot topic coming out of TLC, which is just in time for the Royal Rumble Match. Imagine if Bryan sweeps them all up: Some of them against The Authority's picks, and sometimes even against The Authority themselves (such as in Best Couple).

I also am not entirely unsure that the WWE aren't going to pull something weird at TLC. As a bit of a Christmas surprise to shake things up in time for WrestleMania season and all that. What if a stipulation is added on RAW that if Punk and Bryan can win their Handicap Matches at TLC then they get added to the Unification Match? Or maybe they are allowed to compete against each other and the winner of that match goes into the TLC Match? It's obviously there to stack the decks against Bryan & Punk while making it look like The Authority are giving them at least "opportunities."

[Mr. Nerfect]

Imagine this scenario:

CM Punk faces The Shield. On the night of the PPV, we find out that Triple H has changed these Handicap Matches to being contested under elimination rules. Punk tries his best to fend off The Shield, but numbers overwhelmed him. Punk begins to make comebacks, though, and that leads to The Shield trying to throw things into disarray, since they thrive so well in chaos. During this anarchy, however, Punk leap-frogs over an illegal Roman Reigns Spear, and Reigns tackles the shit out of legal man, Dean Ambrose. Punk then roundhouse kicks Reigns in the head and pins Ambrose for the three to eliminate the US Champion.

Punk then has Reigns on the ropes with things, but Reigns manages to get control of things again, but is then distracted by Ambrose recovering at ringside asking him what the hell that was about. Reigns is distracted long enough that Punk is able to roll him up for three and eliminate him.

It comes down to Punk vs. Rollins -- two men that remind many in the WWE Universe of each other. They do their thing and work the sort of match you would expect, with Rollins having the edge due to the beating CM Punk has taken. Punk makes a traditional comeback, however, but Rollins seems to have an answer for everything. Punk manages to catch Rollins making a high-risk mistake and finishes him off with a quick GTS to win the match, much to Triple H's (assumed) chagrin.

Daniel Bryan then faces The Wyatt Family in his scheduled Handicap Elimination Match. The Wyatts take a different approach to The Shield, however: Bray sits outside the ring in his chair and sends Erick Rowan to the ring. Bryan and Rowan work the best sort of big man vs. little match they can. Bray Wyatt whispers something to Luke Harper at some point and Harper jumps on the apron and exposes a turnbuckle. The referee is distracted with Harper as Bryan reverses an attempt by Rowan to put Bryan into it. Rowan's head collides with the steel, and he's out on his feet, allowing Bryan to hit his Running Knee Strike to put the big man down for the count.

Luke Harper then jumps right on Bryan and the two work their usual magic. Harper catches the roundhouse and hits the sit-down poerbomb, etc. Bryan, eventually, makes his comeback, but Harper manages to cut him back down. Wyatt instructs Harper to do something big like a superplex to Bryan, or something like that, and even instructs a clearly not-so-used-to-this Harper to go to the top rope. This gives Bryan the time he needs to battle out of that situation and send Harper crashing to the mat, which Bryan follows up with his trademark missile dropkick. Wyatt begins to freak out and Bryan again makes a comeback on Harper, and eventually catches a desperate Discus Lariat with a YES! Lock, which Harper fights and fights, but can't seem to get out of. Harper doesn't tap, however, as Bray Wyatt attacks Daniel Bryan while he has the move applied, triggering the disqualification of Luke Harper.

Wyatt continues his rabid assault on Daniel Bryan, and then takes things to the outside. He starts pulling apart the announce table, but a wily Bryan manages to send Wyatt into a ring post or something. Bryan then hits his Running Knee Strike on the floor, sacrificing his body to take his one shot to knock out Wyatt. Bryan then rolls back into the ring and beats a ten count, meaning he has eliminated Bray Wyatt and has defeated the entire Wyatt Family.

Triple H then confirms that Bryan and Punk won't automatically get the unification match title spot later on, because this is for both the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship at the same time. Only one of them can get that opportunity. They face each other tonight. Punk and Bryan then go out there, exhausted, but seemingly with respect, although they know what hangs in the balance. They beat the crap out of each other as JBL talks about how Punk pinned Reigns for only the second time in Roman's career, and how he's pinned the US Champion tonight; while Daniel Bryan slew three monsters. They do some chain-wrestling spots, and wisely go for a lot of roll-ups, since high-impact stuff is only going to take it more out of them. Punk looks to knock Bryan out with a roundhouse, however, and it's on. The two go into a striking war, which they take turns in getting the better of. Punk eventually positions Bryan for a Flying Elbow, but he misses the move and Bryan manages to try and take advantage with his kicks to the chest, but Punk ducks the final roundhouse and school boys Bryan, but pushes him out into position for a roundhouse kick of his own, but Bryan kicks out. Punk takes too long to process Bryan's resilience, and he gets caught in a YES! Lock out of nowhere. Punk is not going to submit and toss this opportunity away, however, and manages to reach the ropes. Punk is then recovering in the corner when he gets met with Bryan's corner charge dropkick, and Bryan then manages to connect with the roundhouse kick he was looking for, and gets the three count on Punk. Bryan and Punk hug after their bout, and Punk essentially tells Bryan to get this fucker done.

Triple H crashes their moment and tells Daniel Bryan that the unification TLC Match starts...right now. CM Punk's face tells the story of this being bullshit. Randy Orton makes his way out, smiling like the predator that he is. John Cena then follows and respectfully goes to check on Bryan, who nods and acts like he doesn't want sympathy. The introductions are done and the bell rings. Cena goes right after Orton and the two start battling. They spill to the outside of the ring and Bryan, being the scrapper that he is, dives out right onto them. He's not going to sit back and wait for them to weaken each other (as JBL states that he should).

The three men work the spots that you could imagine them working, with each taking their turns getting beat up and doing the beating up. Who wins is anyone's guess. If you want to go all-out, Daniel Bryan could seize a moment and actually pull the titles down, which would be a tremendous surprise and certainly a memorable moment. But in this circumstance, you've put the guy over so hard that it seems find to have him lose. Even if they do a spot like they did with Edge, where Cena doesn't want to do it, but he knows he has to put the weakened Bryan down to win the match and become Unified Champion. That sets up a John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan feud for WrestleMania really well, actually. You could have Bryan get to the top of the ladder when the belts are suddenly raised. Finally, all Bryan's work has paid off, but he still gets screwed by The Authority. Maybe they align with Randy Orton quite firmly and both Bryan and Cena do a chase heading into the Royal Rumble, with both men setting their sights on winning that event and headlining WrestleMania XXX?

Anyway, long story short -- I'm not expecting it to happen or anything, but a story like that being told at TLC would certainly make the event more interesting, get some over and talented workers more exposure and credibility, while also allowing storylines to be developed further. Plus, given the worker that Daniel Bryan is, it's probably to Cena and Orton's liking that they get to work with him in that sort of environment, since he can pad out their matches well.

[Lock Jaw]

Imagine this scenario:

I'm sure it was good, but this is as far as I got.

[James Steele]

Noid, I love you.

[Blitz]

Hoping Daniel Bryan recovers from this burial soon.