The All Purpose Daniel Bryan Booking Thread

[king1836]

Jan 28, 2014 6:47:29 GMT -5 Professor Chaos said:

Don't fret people Bryan wins the Chamber and beats Douchtista at Mania. If that don't happen then I'll just hang myself too.

If Bryan doesn't walk out of WM30 as WWE World Champion, then I will boycott WWE for the rest of my life!

[misconduct was wrong]

I won't boycott them. I enjoy watching Punk/Shield/Wyatts. So I'm not going to deny myself that.

It would seem plans are set, but the one thing that could change it is how much they care about live crowd reaction. ANYTHING other than DB in the title match and the crowd will ruin it. The WM crowd would likely cause an earthquake with yes chants, much like the Seattle Seahawks crowd. If Vince and co fear that, then we may see a change.

An x-factor to consider is that Batista might do something ridiculously stupid and cause some negative press. The middle finger was not a big enough deal. He is not handling these crowds well.

[Snowman]

Man I hate these 'All Purpose' threads. So instead if several interesting discussions going on about the hottest topic around today we just have one long ass boring mess of a thread that kills any enthusiasm and discussion about the subject.

Wait a minute, are the mods really the authority?

[Zaq "That Guy" Buzzkill]

Jan 28, 2014 9:27:55 GMT -5 Snowman said:

Man I hate these 'All Purpose' threads. So instead if several interesting discussions going on about the hottest topic around today we just have one long ass boring mess of a thread that kills any enthusiasm and discussion about the subject.

Wait a minute, are the mods really the authority?

It seems to me like the mods smelled what was on the wind and took an early precaution, and a justful one at that because I don't want the front page of WWE to be filled with Daniel Bryan threads.

[HMARK Center]

Jan 28, 2014 8:26:27 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Personally I think it's already too late. The moment and opportunity has been lost. Even if he makes it to Wrestlemania and wins the title, the path to that has been so stop-start, convoluted, and with so many different people involved, it just won't have the payoff that it should.

Totally agreed.

Building up excitement in wrestling is a very delicate art, and upsetting the process by doing things like what they did at the Rumble can effectively ruin what should be a great moment.

Take Samoa Joe's TNA World Title win a handful of years back. It happened on one of the biggest shows of the year, in an amazing steel cage match with Joe's biggest TNA rival, Kurt Angle. It was the most bought show in the company's history, but by nowhere near the numbers it could have been had they pulled the trigger earlier with Joe, who was one of the hottest things in wrestling circa 2005-2007. Too many people went into that show already feeling burned by TNA teasing yet not following through on making Joe the face of their company, and even though he won there was a lot of lost goodwill and a general reaction that was less "YES! FINALLY!" and much more "Ok, great, finally."

Even if you have the payoff people want in the end, you can't be so herky-jerky with a narrative; you need a beginning, middle, end, and rising arc of anticipation. The Rumble would've been the perfect beginning of "Act III" of the Bryan story, but now you've taken that beginning and left the audience thinking less "I can't wait to see this!", and more "Ugh, they'd BETTER fix this". That's awful story structuring.

[The IWC WORLD Champion]

Or, they are genuinley not planning on making him champ in the forseable future.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

This is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen in all my time as a wrestling fan. The more the guy gets screwed over, the more over he gets.

The one thing I'm just not sure of is that if this is some kind of post-kayfabe meta-push where they look to perceived backstage reputations and opinions as methods to build heat, it's how it's practical for making money even with the big changes to the whole system thanks to WWE Network. If they're looking for real reactions from an increasingly genre-savvy fanbase, they're definitely getting them... but instead of "I must pay money to see how this continues to play out" most of it is "I'm not paying money because f*** you for screwing over my guy again".

If this couldn't get me to walk away, then it's likely that I probably never will, so I've really got nothing else to do other than keep supporting him. I'll be happy no matter where he wins the title, if he does win it in the near future. *shrug*

[Hit Girl]

Even the reaction from Stephanie and HHH last night was all wrong. In essence what they were saying was "haha...we intentionally booked something that you wouldn't like". That's not really how a heel should function, because it crosses into real world behind the scenes booking shit rather than something part of the kayfabe story.

The whole thing about them not wanting Daniel Bryan to get hurt and everything was weak, because Daniel Bryan himself pointed at the plot hole behind it (they've injured him many times before). At the moment, there's an odd situation in WWE where the supposed corporate heels favour Cena, Orton, Lesnar, Batista, Sheamus and almost everyone else, except Daniel Bryan who for some reason they've decided they don't like, with either no, or piss poor reasons given why.

Even the reason of being B+ doesn't really help anyone, because that means it makes Daniel Bryan look weak, and makes the heels look weak for picking a fight with something who by their own logic should be beneath them. A feud should get both sides over in different ways. Insults should always be hidden compliments.

[Bo Rida]

Jan 28, 2014 8:26:27 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Personally I think it's already too late. The moment and opportunity has been lost. Even if he makes it to Wrestlemania and wins the title, the path to that has been so stop-start, convoluted, and with so many different people involved, it just won't have the payoff that it should.

Yep, the formula of a wrestler winning the rumble and then winning the title at WM exists for a reason, it's something that works so well they've essentially been using it for about two decades, how the hell do you mess that up?

It's such a successful formula it could have salvaged the mess they've made of the whole angle but they've missed that chance now.

[BigWill]

Whoa, how am I just noticing this thread now?

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

I think there's another element of, if they push Bryan, then it'll only enhance the problem they have with people like Cena and Orton, who are going to be employed and in wrestling matches no matter what. They don't want there to BE a "face of the WWE," because that's self-defeating, so what the fans seem to be clamoring for wouldn't be a solution. It'd be better than what we have now, but it certainly wouldn't work for long.


Honestly, I think HHH is fascinated by this whole thing, because he's legit interested in the psychology of how to work people. No one believes that Cena winning the championship would be meaningful, but they DO think that Bryan NOT winning the championship is meaningful, because it's somehow more "real." It's not making for good booking, but I can see how he would put it out there and drag it on to just watch in perverse amazement.

[mizerable]

Jan 28, 2014 8:26:27 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Personally I think it's already too late. The moment and opportunity has been lost. Even if he makes it to Wrestlemania and wins the title, the path to that has been so stop-start, convoluted, and with so many different people involved, it just won't have the payoff that it should.

Pretty much. They teased it for so long, that I can't even enjoy it now. I'm waiting for the screwjob to follow. I'm waiting for the same condescending feud where they use Bryan's looks as a means of telling a story. That's so f***ing stupid. I may be wrong, but I don't ever recall opponents pointing to Stone Cold's bald head when engaging in barbs. On top of that, WWE has 2 up and comers they're going to want to heavily promote, so it'll likely come at the expense of Bryan. You see, it's not a great payoff if you couldn't do it at Summerslam, it's not a good payoff if you couldn't even do it at Mania...let's just say that Bryan somehow wins the title at Extreme Rules. Big deal. That's not nearly as poetic as it should be, considering his storyline past. I guess some people will take anything, but it won't mean shit to me.

As far as Bryan winning the title at the Chamber. Hahahaha. I think these are the same people who believed that Punk was going to win the title back from Rock last year. It. Ain't. Gonna. Happen.

[Super Nintenjoe KBD]

I was talking about this with a friend who's more hopeful than me that this will all turn out ok. To me it's pretty much ruined now no matter what, obviously I wish success to Bryan but in the storyline it seemed incredibly bad booking to rob themselves of what a great moment Bryan entering the Rumble would have been, let alone winning. If it's a story to make people pissed at the powers that be I just feel really disappointed that a great moment was taken away whatever happens now, those Rumble pops arnt like any others because of the suprise element and that slight pause before a big name's music hits is always so great, oh well! I should have known DBry being scrwed out of the title only to come back, win the Royal Rumble and main event WMXXX winning the unified titles and leading the whole crowd in a massive chant would be too good to be true. Imagine telling someone that scenario a few years ago, but we were so close! Sounds like a smark booking in EWR.

[gnr123]

The only way they can salvage this is if they include Daniel Bryan in the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania. Anything other than that will be shat on. Unless they can bring The Rock back to challenge WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, no one will give two shits about the match. If it's Orton/Batista, Brock/Batista, Brock/Orton/Batista. The fans will be vocal and they will try to get under the wrestlers skins. They will chant for Daniel Bryan and hopefully every else not involved in the match. We might get a wave. The fans will let their voices be heard, and it will look disastrous. Sure, WWE will probably just brush it off as "the most controversial main event in history," but that's bullshit and the people that went there or ordered it will know it.

Anything short than Bryan/Brock or Bryan/heel Batista is not going to work. I don't want Batista/Orton/Bryan. They've basically had a very, very simple and easy storyline, and they completely ruined it. Now, they either have to fix it, or deal wih the consequences. Last night was in Cleveland and you heard ho they were. Just imagine how it'll be in Chicago or Brooklyn. Or WrestleMania with 80,000 people chanting for a person who's not in the match.

But, even if they do add Bryan into the title match, it'll look like damage control. And, there's the hope that Vince can admit he's wrong. Putting Bryan in the Title match will just be Vince saying that he made a mistake, but is Vince McMahon able to admit he's wrong? Hell, is Triple H able to admit he's wrong? Adding Daniel Bryan to the title match at WrestleMania is the right thing to do if tey don't want the match to be shat on. But, will Vince have the "grapefruits" to do it.

[Toates Madhackrviper]

So I guess the question is was this haphazardly rewritten RAW's goal to satiate the audience just long enough to keep the peace at least through Elimination Chamber but then force through their agenda for Wrestlemania afterwards anyway? Or was it a genuine change in direction? If its the former thats... incredibly stupid. Either people are going to be even MORE angry and rebel HARDER or they're just going to have the wind sucked out of their sails more than ever and you're going to increase apathy. Neither is good.

Idk. I'm kind of with the people who are saying it basically feels like its too little too late anyway. I still want it to happen because its better than it NOT happening. But the excitement is gone just because the Rumble was such a gut punch emotionally.

I will say though that if Bryan wins the title at Elimination Chamber they DO have my WWE Network purchase back. And thats my sliver of hope right now (god, no, I'm emotionally attaching to another sliver of hope that won't pay off...), that the WWE will know that giving Bryan the title right before the Network goes live will drive purchase. But if they screw over their audience again right before the Network goes live it will destroy purchases.

[Tom Turkey]

[Dave the Dave]

Jan 28, 2014 11:13:36 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Even the reaction from Stephanie and HHH last night was all wrong. In essence what they were saying was "haha...we intentionally booked something that you wouldn't like". That's not really how a heel should function, because it crosses into real world behind the scenes booking shit rather than something part of the kayfabe story.

The whole thing about them not wanting Daniel Bryan to get hurt and everything was weak, because Daniel Bryan himself pointed at the plot hole behind it (they've injured him many times before). At the moment, there's an odd situation in WWE where the supposed corporate heels favour Cena, Orton, Lesnar, Batista, Sheamus and almost everyone else, except Daniel Bryan who for some reason they've decided they don't like, with either no, or piss poor reasons given why.

Even the reason of being B+ doesn't really help anyone, because that means it makes Daniel Bryan look weak, and makes the heels look weak for picking a fight with something who by their own logic should be beneath them. A feud should get both sides over in different ways. Insults should always be hidden compliments.

Perfect analysis. They're almost going to make the fans hate everyone that isn't Daniel.

That "someone didn't get what they wanted" line was one of the worst things I've heard on RAW. It's such a shitty cover for the real life problem of the doing what they want compared to what the fans do.

they can try to make it the story, but don't believe for a second this was the plan. They wanted Batista to be the conquering hero. Even if he's heel, he'll get the WM main event and Bryan gets placed on the backburner. People lauding that f***ing promo...it's as close to hhh and Vince telling us to f*** off as we're going to get. Glad you deluded yourselves into thinking it was anything else.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

I think I might be in the same boat that if Daniel wins the title at Elimination Chamber, I will buy the network.

However, if they pull the same crap they did after Night of Champions where they just strip him of the belt, then I will not buy the network. Right now, I am not buying the network or watching any of their shows either until things change.

Royal Rumble, whether WWE wants to believe it or not, was a wake-up call that the audience is not going to be force-fed the same crap. If you screw the audience, they will let you know it.

[Snowman]

Jan 28, 2014 14:02:10 GMT -5 Tom Turkey said:

BAH GAWD, THAT TV MUST BE BROKEN IN HAFF. BAH GAWD STOP IT, THAT TV HAS A FAMILY GAWDDAMMIT

[Tom Turkey]

Jan 28, 2014 14:13:20 GMT -5 Dave the Dave said:

Jan 28, 2014 11:13:36 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Even the reaction from Stephanie and HHH last night was all wrong. In essence what they were saying was "haha...we intentionally booked something that you wouldn't like". That's not really how a heel should function, because it crosses into real world behind the scenes booking shit rather than something part of the kayfabe story.

The whole thing about them not wanting Daniel Bryan to get hurt and everything was weak, because Daniel Bryan himself pointed at the plot hole behind it (they've injured him many times before). At the moment, there's an odd situation in WWE where the supposed corporate heels favour Cena, Orton, Lesnar, Batista, Sheamus and almost everyone else, except Daniel Bryan who for some reason they've decided they don't like, with either no, or piss poor reasons given why.

Even the reason of being B+ doesn't really help anyone, because that means it makes Daniel Bryan look weak, and makes the heels look weak for picking a fight with something who by their own logic should be beneath them. A feud should get both sides over in different ways. Insults should always be hidden compliments.

Perfect analysis. They're almost going to make the fans hate everyone that isn't Daniel.

That "someone didn't get what they wanted" line was one of the worst things I've heard on RAW. It's such a shitty cover for the real life problem of the doing what they want compared to what the fans do.

they can try to make it the story, but don't believe for a second this was the plan. They wanted Batista to be the conquering hero. Even if he's heel, he'll get the WM main event and Bryan gets placed on the backburner. People lauding that f***ing promo...it's as close to hhh and Vince telling us to f*** off as we're going to get. Glad you deluded yourselves into thinking it was anything else.

If anything less than DB winning the title or something similar happens at EC, I expect the shitstorm that happened at Royal Rumble to be dwarfed in comparison to the one we'll be getting in four weeks time.