Would have kept me in the damn survivor pool

Gertner is correct. I'm not sure whether or not the WWE has planned this, but if they are reactive and manage to think on their feet, they have the potential to create an amazing storyline going forward from here. Bryan winning the WWE World Title at the Elimination Chamber and then defending it against Batista -- who is so confident he will squash the vanilla midget -- could be great.

I was thinking today that this could be a way to get Daniel Bryan vs. The Undertaker going. Bryan would be upset that he was not included, The Authority would talk about Bryan's "safety," which Bryan knows is bullshit, so he sets his sights on proving himself. What better way to prove himself to Triple H than by beating the man that Triple H lost to three times at WrestleMania, and a man that has gone 21-0 at WrestleMania?

But it's possible that this could just be a segue into Bryan managing to get himself into the title match at the last minute. The WWE has to know that the crowd is going to shit on Batista vs. Orton at Mania. They just have to know that.

Some things to keep in mind:

* Daniel Bryan lost to Bray Wyatt, which was weird. The WWE pulled the trigger on this because Bryan was so fucking over and they used it to kick off the show. Wyatt's goons were sent to the back which would have explained a way for Bryan to win the match (either by pinfall, submission or disqualification when they returned and attacked), but they chose to put Wyatt over. This means they value Bray's credibility, but it also seemed to make people think that the night was not over for Bryan. If Bryan had won and simply returned to the back, then it may have been more of a "final" story for him. Yet the WWE seemed to leave people hanging on purpose...

* The WWE didn't have Bryan in the Royal Rumble match. They gave Kevin Nash a spot. They gave El Torito a spot. They gave two guys who have made it clear they only want to be WWE Tag Team Champions in The Usos a shot. But they didn't put Daniel Bryan in there. They didn't want him in that Rumble. They didn't want him to lose that Royal Rumble.

There might be some truth to there being some method behind the madness right now. But you'd think that someone other than Rey Mysterio would have been #30 if that were the case. Bad News Barrett would have been perfect.

Narcissus,

I understand your skepticism of the WWE, but again...........think about 2002 and 2004 when the WWE "busted a nut" with both Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton respectively at Summerslam. Especially in the case of Orton, the guy lost a lot of steam a few months later after winning the title at Summerslam. CM Punk in 2011; same thing. Won the title from Cena at Summerslam, and then eventually lost a lot of steam as a face.

Daniel Bryan having a legit face run as champ after Summerslam would have been great, but imagine how much greater things would be if he won the title at Mania? (followed by a strong run).

Again - the fact that The Authority are completely burying Daniel Bryan on TV, is making the fans love Bryan even more.

However - this is ALL a moot point if the WWE does NOT deliver with a Daniel Bryan World Title victory at Mania.


Again - I know you're going to hate me saying this............but lets see where this goes.

For all we know, Batista will *not* be a face come Wrestlemania. Even if he's pushed as face and goes up against a fellow face in Daniel Bryan and gets booed out of the building.........that's not necessarily a bad thing. Proof? Look no further than the crowd reactions Cena gets.

And again - If Daniel Bryan had entered the rumble and had won the rumble, things would have been extremely formulaic. The fact that "The Machine" prevented Bryan from entering the rumble has made the fans love Bryan even more. Period.

What good would it have done if Bryan had entered the rumble and had been thrown out by Batista or Reigns?

If the WWE are trying to make their storylines as realistic as possible, then you can't just 'cave in' to whatever the fans want every single time.

Bryan needs to win the title at Wrestlemania, but why not keep both the marks and smarks (like you) guessing? In my opinion, this is EXACTLY what the WWE are doing, and kudos to them for doing that.

There is a reason why Bryan's popularity has continued to soar even after Summerslam. Think about that for a second.

Yeah him tweeting about it the way he did definitely shows they are at least reacting to it. Which is a very good sign. Part of the problem is they have no idea how to book a rebel like Bryan. The more they keep dumping on him, the more people sympathize. How are they gonna find the delicate balance of not completely burying him and robbing him of his moment and not completely turning him into a lamewad schill for the company. Bryan is company man, not because he bleeds WWE but because he is a staunch professional and does what he's told... there's certain things he won't be able to make up for just by being Daniel Bryan

What?

That's the thing though. Daniel Bryan, from what I understand, isn't an overt rebel though........atleast like someone like Austin or Degeneration X were.

The fact that Bryan continuously gets screwed over and takes it like a champ (without looking like a bitch) is what makes the fans sympathize with him and love him even more. It's a perfect blend of Bryan standing up for himself, but differentiating his character from a guy like Austin or DX.

Again - from a booker's standpoint, and WWE creative standpoint, the end goal is to not be predictable. The last thing you want for Bryan is to have him be an Austin clone by being a badass rebel. Bryan is his own unique personality, and I think the WWE are being extremely creative here. Bryan being a "bad-ass rebel" and winning the rumble would have extremely formulaic.

Have him win the World Heavyweight title at Wrestlemania. Period.

I don't like the idea of Taker vs. Bryan.

Taker's streak should never be ended, while Bryan should not be jobbing at Mania'.

Bryan NEEDS to be in the main-event of Wrestlemania fighting for the Championship. Period.

The only guy that should be fighting with Undertaker and Wrestlemania, is Brock Lesnar in my opinion.

why does he NEED to be though? if the purpose of the company is to create as many viable stars as they can maybe they are smart to see DB doesn't need the title to be viable?

Remember when they gave the big belt to little guys like benoit and mysterio and those in the know shit all over it? why do it again?

the course that should happen is DB would win the title after mania and then he's unfairly screwed out of it by the higher ups a few months later then spends the rest of 14 chasing it for the big payoff at the next rumble and mania 31. it's not time yet

not that orton batista is a good thing to me, or anything with cena for that matter, but just remember you and me don't pay for PPVs we don't buy t shirts and foam fingers.

Austin was a whole different beast, at a different time, in a different era. They KNEW how to do it, but that was when the wrestler's had more control, and the E wasn't the machine yet. I don't think under the current landscape, they have any idea of what to do with a rebel. Things change.

Randy Orton vs. Sting.

That is how I would handle things if I was in charge.

At the February PPV, Daniel Bryan wins. A week later, Triple H enables Orton to get his rematch against Bryan, one on one. Bryan wins cleanly.

The week after that, Orton complains about being screwed over and that the original "Legend Killer" deserves far more respect. He talks about how he has beaten numerous legends such as The Rock, Ric Flair, Foley, etc.

::::Cue Sting's music:::::

Badda Bing Badda Boom.

He-Man's updated Wrestlemania Card:

-Daniel Bryan vs. Batista
-Undertaker vs. Lesnar
-Sting vs. Randy Orton
-Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
-Goldust vs. Cody Rhodes
-Usos vs. New Age Outlaws
-Triple H vs. CM Punk
-John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
-AJ Lee vs. ????

-Some kind of battle Royale

His catchphrase was born after being scheduled to win King of the Ring. Isn't that proof that Austin was already getting a significant push with or without 3:16?

I don't know the behind-the-scenes history there, but if they were trying to bury him, they probably wouldn't have let him win King of the Ring.

Not that I think the WWE is trying to bury Daniel Bryan. If they really didn't like him and his boy scout behavior outside the ring, they could have fired him a long time ago during the NXT spitting incident.

[QUOTE=He-Man;4369432]Randy Orton vs. Sting.

That is how I would handle things if I was in charge.

yikes....

Sting? Is that a real possibility?

It would only be cool if it went unadvertised. Like have Randy Orton beat Ziggler for the #1 Contender spot, the lights go out, Sting comes down from the ceiling, nails him with the bat, splashes him in all four corners before hitting the reverse DDT and putting him in the scorpion deathlock until he passes out.

HHH was actually supposed to win the KOTF but was punished for the MSG incident. Stone Cold took his spot. Weird how things play out.

[QUOTE=NormanSmiley;4369478]I don't think it's too bad. Certainly not a match made in heaven, but it does allow.....

1) The WWE to push Orton away from the main-event while keeping Orton involved in a high profile marquee match-up.

2) Gives Sting a worthy opponent for his WWE


The WWE are shitting themselves if they think that Batista vs. Orton will captivate fan interest.

Orton vs Bryan has been done before......WWE should go with Bryan/Batista.

That is why I suggest that Orton goes up against Sting.

Orton going up against main-event plumbers such as Sheamus, Big Show, Del-Rios, etc., won't hold any interest with the fans. Guys like Ziggler, Miz, etc., are on not on Orton's level.

Hence - my choice of Orton vs. Sting.

According to recent reports on news sites, it is.

batista v. Daniel bryan has been done before

I called it being a threeway dance between Orton Batista and Bryan and I hope I'm not wrong because that would be cool.

Like what?

4-5 years ago?

Bryan wasn't a star back then.

Trust me - Bryan/Batista won't be stale due to a match that took place 4-5 years ago. :-|

Very strong possibility but I hope not.

In terms of building credibility, one-on-one victories do far more for a wrestler than a three-way.

The WWE's biggest long-term priority should be to make Daniel Bryan look as strong as possible.

Just did a quick wiki-check on the 1996 KOTR + PPV. Triple H beat Aldo Montoya in a dark match.

Crazy about some of the names in the actual tournament.

Vader, Ultimate Warrior, Yokozuna, Owen Hart...

I wonder if Triple H had not been punished who he would have faced in the final match. Jake, Austin or maybe Ultimate Warrior instead.

Hmmm...

You'd have to get the belt off Orton beforehand. Bryan going in as champ wouldn't be as big of a moment as Bryan winning the belt, even more so if he defeated two of HHH former Evolution members at the same time. It'd make sense storyline-wise as well.

What are the practical ways to get DB into the main-event without giving him the title?

Here's what I posted earlier: on Raw, Bryan keeps cutting promos on HHH demanding a shot, giving the people what they want. HHH says ok, but if he doesn't win this match, he'll never get a chance again. HHH puts him in a handicap match against The Shield. Bryan overcomes the odds and wins due to miscommunication in the The Shield, which leads to the Shield fighting each other. In that match you now have:

Bryan vs Batista vs Orton
Reigns vs Ambrose vs Rollins.

Two solid Wrestlemania matches.

Bryan would win to please the smarks and it would be eerily similar to the WrestleMania 20 main event. We all know how that turned out.

They were both booked as jobbers, winning the title didn't cause them to lose steam.

WWE's biggest mistake was putting Bryan in the title picture to begin with. They could have done just fine having him put on great matches and involving him in good storylines and the Bryan marks would have been completely satisfied. Then for some reason they decided it would be a good idea to let people think he was a legit contender who could compete with a guy like Cena to be one of the "faces of the company" and now that's what people expect. There's no going back.

Special guest time keeper

If tiny Japanese men can beat Godzilla, Daniel Bryan can beat Batista.

Yes but Godzilla will still always get top billing over the nameless tiny Japanese men.

Tell that to Matthew Broderick.

lol how was that a mistake? Because you don't want him to be the champion?

Because as of right now it seems like THEY do not want him as champion, which of course could be booking, as they want to turn the focus back to the big monsters

In 1994 they wanted to bring the focus onto Lex Luger, but when they heard the crowd reaction for Bret Hart when they co-won the rumble, they went with Bret.

Like it was brought up earlier, Steve Austin wasn't supposed to win the King of the Ring.

And tons of other things change on the fly because they have to give the people what they want. I honestly don't know if Bryan getting the title at this exact point is the right move IMO, I feel like keeping him strong while having him chase is probably the best choice, but the problem is, they are ABSOLUTELY AWFUL at keeping seemingly any character strong these days w/o turning them into the same old vanilla "OVERCOMING THE ODDS" superman. Thus they don't know how to keep Bryan all that strong, the only guy who knows how to keep Bryan strong is Bryan by shining no matter what they do with him, and the fans can see that.

#1wwefan is right as far as long term booking, they could've kept him strong by just putting him in awesome storylines and slowly building his credibility, but like ALWAYS, they shot their wad because as has been consistent since the Invasion angle, they generally do not know how to book anyone (aside from VERY few) to superstardom. They have no tangible mid card. That's the thing about wrestling in its best years, it always had a very strong mid card to lube the fans up for the main event angles, but now the mid card literally means nothing. So the fans don't want to see Daniel Bryan, THEIR GUY in shitty, meaningless mid card feuds, because it's been hammered in their head that the mid card means shit all, and is generally just filler.

Well, if the news about Punk is true and WWE moves into the Bryan/HHH direction, I think it'll make better sense long term for that to happen over Punk/HHH.

No. Because they don't. The audience won't have it now though because they teased it too much and put it in their heads that it's a possibility. So they're probably gonna end up having to cave and give it to him anyway. Which will probably lead to a Benoit-style reign where he's holding the title while Cena is the real headliner for a few months because he's not viewed as an "A+ player".