WWE is onto something special with the Daniel Bryan angle.
The heat for the closing segment of this week’s Raw was incredible. Crowd support for Bryan was suffocating. It oozed from the TV. The Shield = STOOGES. They play the role well, but it’s not necessarily complimentary. Triple H & Randy Orton are scum. I know it’s fake, but I was still getting pissed.
A secondary angle is clearly being set up.
Whoever jumps off that stage to help Bryan is born again as a HUGE BABYFACE. All signs point to Big Show, which means it will probably be somebody else. Bryan is getting the Cena spot. Whoever helps Bryan gets the Bryan spot.
Triple H fires whoever helps Bryan. Vince McMahon negates the firing. The Triple H vs. Vince feud is born.
So far, this is as good as any storyline in recent WWE history. It’s BE A STAR come to life. A lesson could be taught.
But for that lesson to work, Bryan has to win the WWE championship CLEAN, and hold it for a significant time.
For that lesson to work, Bryan has to get some heat back. He has to humiliate Orton, constantly reminding him and the WWE universe that Orton isn’t really the champion, that he didn’t really beat Bryan.
For all this to work, all that has to happen.
And all that goes against the grain of everything Vince, Triple H and WWE believe in. This is a shoot angle. Can you really imagine Vince going ALL THE WAY with a guy like Bryan?
I can’t. I don’t trust Vince for a second.
But it’s also hard to imagine Vince not wanting to blow the roof off the promotion by doing right by Bryan and (ironically) what’s right for business. It’s hard to imagine Vince denying that pop.
This is INCREDIBLE. I witnessed the rise of the nWo. The heat for this is just as thick, just as real, just as palpable.
The nWo didn’t end good, did it?
But that’s what makes this storyline amazing: The kayfabe version intrigues the marks. The behind-the-scenes intrigue keeps the IWC, dirt-sheet twits, self-styled insiders and grizzled cynics like me RIVETED. I really don’t know what will happen.
I wonder if they do.
Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkMaddenX
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
