Post by CM Dazz on Jan 4, 2011 16:39:36 GMT -5
Obviously, there are two feuds that could work: Bryan/Regal & Bryan/Punk.
Y'know, so he wasn't on Raw and isn't in a major fued currently, he's still in a better position than at least 70/80% of the roster.
FWIW, I'm far from convinced Bryan/Regal is money. That one was put to bed when Bryan beat him and even Regal's own mother wouldn't give him a kayfabe shot at beating the white Rey Mysterio. I certainly wouldn't have dedicated any time to it last night on what was a very good, very full show.
It's not like this is going to last long either. You'd get very short odds on him being in the Elimination Chamber, and then he'll have a match at Wrestlemania.
Compared to how people thought he would be booked, and for a long time thought he was being booked, these are good times for Daniel Bryan fans.
I don't think anybody here is afraid that Dragon is going to be released, or that he won't be featured at all on the shows.
However, you can't just trot a guy out there, have him wrestle with no purpose, and call it anything but "spinning his wheels".
When Bret Hart initially won the WWF title in 1992, it took about two full months before he actually had a legitimate feud to speak of (against Razor Ramon, leading into Royal Rumble 1993). However, during the entirety of those first two months, they booked Bret as a "fighting champion"; in fact, they'd put over that he defended the belt against more challengers, from jobbers to midcarders to upper tier guys, in two months than most champions did in a year.
Was that necessarily true? I don't know. Was Bret not involved in a legitimate feud? That's true, he wasn't.
But the "fighting champion" angle WAS a legitimate storyline and character build up for Bret.
Going by what I've read here, Bryan has had a bunch of matches, and been pretty successful. That's nice. However, is there any rhyme or reason for it? If he's not engaged in a feud at the moment, are they at least using this win streak/US title reign to put something over about his character to get people to care more about him?
If not, then it's winning without impact. Goldberg had a huge winning streak without being in a real feud, but his dominance in his matches, and the streak itself, helped define him. Bret Hart beat a ton of challengers in the early days of his World Title reign without being in a feud, but they did that to book him as a blue collar "fighting champion".
Is Bryan's current booking lending itself to anything like that? I honestly don't know, since I don't really watch wrestling these days, but going by what I read and hear, it doesn't really sound like it. Having a storyline with the hot twins is nice, but will that do much for Bryan's character, or set him up for a strong future feud?
WWE has been vexed for years now by not knowing how to handle guys who aren't main eventers; the majority of it's midcard flounders, stays put, "spins their wheels", because they don't take time to develop even simplistic feuds that could be money makers in the midcard. Its nice to be involved in an angle, to have a belt, or be on a winning streak, but unless it leads to something or builds your character to the audience, it accomplishes next to nothing.
I was going to mention the fighting champion gimmick. Have him defend his belt on TV every week, and on every PPV. As he go's through challengers one of them, say Gabriel, gives him a run for his money where it looks like Bryan may lose the title. Re-match the following week, or PPV where Bryan again narrowly escapes with the title.
At this point you have a feud you could work for a while. With Bryan, you can have a 2/3 falls match, a submission match, or even a 30 minute iron man match as the final showdown.
Since Bryan will have gone through a bunch of midcarders on his way to the main feud it gets a bunch of them TV time. Hell, you can even develop mini feuds between the guys Bryan beat. Something as simple as one of the guys getting pissed that his match wasn't on PPV and XX wrestler's was, or that one guy did better against Bryan than the other.
This whole thing could last for months, and give a large chunk of the roster something to do.
I will be Emailing my resume to WWE headquarters now.
When was the last time the guy lost a match?
Y'know, so he wasn't on Raw and isn't in a major fued currently, he's still in a better position than at least 70/80% of the roster.
FWIW, I'm far from convinced Bryan/Regal is money. That one was put to bed when Bryan beat him and even Regal's own mother wouldn't give him a kayfabe shot at beating the white Rey Mysterio. I certainly wouldn't have dedicated any time to it last night on what was a very good, very full show.
It's not like this is going to last long either. You'd get very short odds on him being in the Elimination Chamber, and then he'll have a match at Wrestlemania.
Compared to how people thought he would be booked, and for a long time thought he was being booked, these are good times for Daniel Bryan fans.
I don't think anybody here is afraid that Dragon is going to be released, or that he won't be featured at all on the shows.
However, you can't just trot a guy out there, have him wrestle with no purpose, and call it anything but "spinning his wheels".
When Bret Hart initially won the WWF title in 1992, it took about two full months before he actually had a legitimate feud to speak of (against Razor Ramon, leading into Royal Rumble 1993). However, during the entirety of those first two months, they booked Bret as a "fighting champion"; in fact, they'd put over that he defended the belt against more challengers, from jobbers to midcarders to upper tier guys, in two months than most champions did in a year.
Was that necessarily true? I don't know. Was Bret not involved in a legitimate feud? That's true, he wasn't.
But the "fighting champion" angle WAS a legitimate storyline and character build up for Bret.
Going by what I've read here, Bryan has had a bunch of matches, and been pretty successful. That's nice. However, is there any rhyme or reason for it? If he's not engaged in a feud at the moment, are they at least using this win streak/US title reign to put something over about his character to get people to care more about him?
If not, then it's winning without impact. Goldberg had a huge winning streak without being in a real feud, but his dominance in his matches, and the streak itself, helped define him. Bret Hart beat a ton of challengers in the early days of his World Title reign without being in a feud, but they did that to book him as a blue collar "fighting champion".
Is Bryan's current booking lending itself to anything like that? I honestly don't know, since I don't really watch wrestling these days, but going by what I read and hear, it doesn't really sound like it. Having a storyline with the hot twins is nice, but will that do much for Bryan's character, or set him up for a strong future feud?
WWE has been vexed for years now by not knowing how to handle guys who aren't main eventers; the majority of it's midcard flounders, stays put, "spins their wheels", because they don't take time to develop even simplistic feuds that could be money makers in the midcard. Its nice to be involved in an angle, to have a belt, or be on a winning streak, but unless it leads to something or builds your character to the audience, it accomplishes next to nothing.
I was going to mention the fighting champion gimmick. Have him defend his belt on TV every week, and on every PPV. As he go's through challengers one of them, say Gabriel, gives him a run for his money where it looks like Bryan may lose the title. Re-match the following week, or PPV where Bryan again narrowly escapes with the title.
At this point you have a feud you could work for a while. With Bryan, you can have a 2/3 falls match, a submission match, or even a 30 minute iron man match as the final showdown.
Since Bryan will have gone through a bunch of midcarders on his way to the main feud it gets a bunch of them TV time. Hell, you can even develop mini feuds between the guys Bryan beat. Something as simple as one of the guys getting pissed that his match wasn't on PPV and XX wrestler's was, or that one guy did better against Bryan than the other.
This whole thing could last for months, and give a large chunk of the roster something to do.
I will be Emailing my resume to WWE headquarters now.