Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar at Summerslam 2014

[Aboutreika18]

How differently would've things turned out had DB been the one to be fed to Lesnar at Summerslam 2014, as the original plan was?

Obviously the plan was to make Lesnar in this huge evil heel, destroying beloved babyface Bryan and ending his long sought after title reign. WWE, in their infinite wisdom figured they could still achieve the same outcome by replacing the injured Bryan with John Cena, who we all know has never had the same level of unanimous babyface support from the fans as Bryan ended up getting, despite a decade of narrative bending and putting the wool over the eyes of fans by desperate WWE announcing teams.

Long story short, Lesnar destroyed Cena in a match that brought glee to a lot of fans who had suffered through a decade of Cena overpushing and Lesnar ended up being much more of a final boss tweener who got huge pops and crowd support, the whole Suplex City circus and some admittedly overplayed but still entertaining promoting by Heyman.

Had Bryan been the one destroyed, would Lesnar have gotten huge heat from fans? Would the plan to have Reigns go over Lesnar at Mania worked out better and have gotten fans behind Reigns? Would Bryan have overcome the odds and slayed the Beast later down the line?

It's one of those cases where I think things worked out much better because of luck and circumstances, even though we had to see Bryan's title reign cut short.

[The Ichi]

Bryan taking one of those germans is a scary thought, let alone 16.

[Dub H]

If I remember well the original idea was for the lesnar vs bryan match be as " wake up call" to the fans about Bryan

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

It would have and should have turned out the same way as the Cena squash

Thankfully the match didn't happen because it would have been scary in hindsight of him taking all germans on his neck because it was scary for Cena with his neck issues

[MichaelMartini]

Jul 26, 2017 14:29:04 GMT -5 The Ichi said:

Bryan taking one of those germans is a scary thought, let alone 16.

It's not like Cena's neck was in mint condition.

[Fade]

It's a blessing it didn't happen cause...yeah, knowing the kind of "Show must go on" performer DB is and how this was the birth of Suplex City...would have been a scary sight in heinsight.

Booking wise...Lesnar got a great reaction for destroying Cena, he would of absolutely been reviled and booed at body bagging Bryan.

[Slanted and Enchanted]

Brock Lesnar would have definitely gotten tons of heat if he squashed Bryan at Summerslam instead of Cena.

But I dunno, no disrespect to Bryan, but squashing Cena gave Lesnar that legitimate air of dominance that Bryan could never provide. There's a reason that match was compared to Doomsday VS Superman or why he's referred to as the final boss of the WWE. He squashed John Cena, the be all and end all of the WWE. Lesnar squashing Bryan would have just been a standard match that would only make Bryan look bad and provide nothing for Brock and the aura of dominance he possessed after what he did to Super Cena.

[thecrusherwi]

I wonder if WWE's business would be even more in the gutter had Bryan had a fun run all summer and then got killed by Lesnar.

[-Lithium-]

I'm glad it didn't happen. Plus it wouldn't be nearly as memorable. Instead of being this amazing shocking moment it would just came across as the culmination of WWEs constant attempts to f*** Bryan and the fans over. Imagine how depressing it would have been to have to watch DB feud with shitty ass Kane and Stephanie McMahon for months and THEN get decimated by Lesnar. Even worse that it would have been for nothing seeing as Reigns destiny to be hated was set in stone the moment the senile old man running WWE took such a personal interest in him.

[Jake, The Jake, Jake]

I'm pretty sure Lesnar would have gotten Big Show/Kane 2015 Rumble heat.

[the2ndevil]

It's a shame Bryan wasn't healthy enough for it, because from a strictly narrative perspective, it made perfect sense.

Bryan's title win was the ultimate Cinderella story. Even Cinderella hit midnight.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

It would not be nearly as effective.

Suplex city worked because it was Cena. The Unstoppable never say die Superman.

And unlike the times "WE NEVER SAW ANYONE MANHANDLE THE UNDERTAKER LIKE THIS!" we literally never saw anyone completely demolish John Cena that way in a match.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Jul 26, 2017 21:22:19 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave is Correct said:

It would not be nearly as effective.

Suplex city worked because it was Cena. The Unstoppable never say die Superman.

And unlike the times "WE NEVER SAW ANYONE MANHANDLE THE UNDERTAKER LIKE THIS!" we literally never saw anyone completely demolish John Cena that way in a match.

Plus I think the biggest thing coming out of that match instead of Lesnar being made a final boss monster it would have been that WWE doesn't think Bryan is a star worth building around and they chumped him out to a part timer. 

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Went back to the SummerSlam 2014 thread to have a look at the live reaction just now... Man, the bloodlust was real for that one.

In regards to the hypothetical Bryan match, it wouldn't have been received as Lesnar becoming the big dominant heel end boss with the gold, it would have been taken by the fanbase as "OMG HOW DARE THEY BURY BRYAN BY HAVING LESNAR SQUASH HIM". That would be the narrative coming out of it. So... Probably for the best that it didn't happen, because it wouldn't have been taken the right way. Lesnar works best as a chaotic neutral type, anyway.

[fg]

I totally agree. If Bryan got squashed by Lesnar, the people here would react angrily and say "No way would WWE let Lesnar destroy Cena because he's their golden boy where's Bryan is not."

[Final Countdown Jones]

Much like the Rumble earlier that year, the booking problems would have eclipsed the entire situation and lessened the actual impact of Lesnar's mega push