I guess it seemed obvious a few weeks ago that this was just a set up for a face-turn.

 

Keeps Daniel hot but away from top talent and elevates the Wyatts, burns some TV time, people will mark out etc.

 

101

I still think Bryan is going to do something with Shawn instead of winning the Rumble. Once the Wyatt deal is over, I assume that they're going to pick up teasing that match. Isn't Batista/Orton set for Mania?

If last night was an audible then I think they could call an audible on Orton having the belt until Mania.

I think that he has to beat Orton at Mania for the storyline to really have closure...sure he's beaten him and then we've had "Dusty Finishes".

 

It needs to be Bryan pinning Orton in Superdome for this storyline to properly end.

The best part of Dave going on about Bryan not being at the network announcement was Alvarez repeatedly mentioning "yeah, but he was a heel then", only for Dave to bring up Alberto Del Rio being there. Because heel who's a well spoken member of an ethnic group they covet as an audience is the same as a guy shown on TV as a member of a brainwashed swamp cult.

The best part of Dave going on about Bryan not being at the network announcement was Alvarez repeatedly mentioning "yeah, but he was a heel then", only for Dave to bring up Alberto Del Rio being there. Because heel who's a well spoken member of an ethnic group they covet as an audience is the same as a guy shown on TV as a member of a brainwashed swamp cult.

Duck Dynasty IS huge.

Honestly, who cares who was there?

 

I love Meltzer and Alvarez, but that's just unnecessary shit-stirring.

I get it in the sense that he was trying to demonstrate that they clearly still see John Cena as the face of the company, because he was the only current performer (unless you count HHH and Stephanie) on stage as part of the announcement. But John Cena can still be Mr. Right while Daniel Bryan is Mr. Right Now.

Alvarez said that one plan is for the HHH/Punk stuff to continue through SummerSlam, with a Punk/Batista match on that show being the continuation of it. Which I like because Batista as a heel is a million times better than as a face.

I remember Batista/Punk having good chemistry, and they had some matches I thought were good. I think one of them may have been at Great American Bash 2008.. I liked that Batista ate and sold Punk's kicks in a way that reminded me of late 90's roided-up wrestlers getting kicked in MMA.

 

Agreed. That match had a disappointing ending but the early stuff made me want to see them go at it again.

I haven't actually listened to the show where they discussed who was and wasn't there, but in my mind I knew they would argue about that minutia.

 

Who was there? HHH, HBK, Cena, Austin

 

Other than Cena, the undisputed top guy for basically the last decade, who on the current roster was there? It was top guy and icons.

 

Why wasn't Punk there? Why would Punk's character attend an event like that?

 

Why wasn't Bryan there? He was in the midst of some weird TV angle with the Wyatt clan. Dave and Bryan probably would have complained if he was there

 

I've been on the "don't jump to conclusions, let it all play out...." train when it comes to Bryan the entire time, and I'll gladly admit that WWE will often screw up pushes and fuck up all kinds of stuff along the way even when they meet the end goal....but the kvetching about Bryan has been worse than anything WWE has done in terms of booking him. They've booked some stuff poorly, but none of it with the intent to hurt Bryan. Some of this reminds me of CM Punk in '11 when certain circles of jaded fans were convinced that they were trying to kill Punk off.....then he gets the longest title reign in modern WWE and in 2014 he's #1a or b as a top guy. Yeah, you can really tell that HHH and Vince hate him

Talk about your all-time burials, eh?

According to Meltz...

 

Details are stiff forthcoming, but WWE has confirmed that Bryan Danielson suffered a concussion last night on Raw.

 

Earlier today the word going around at television is that Bryan did not remember a lot of what happened in the cage match and that the concussion seemed to be serious, but all that was confirmed is the diagnosis of the concussion.

The way Bryan began the slow Yes chant and was climbing the cage, I don't know if I buy this story. I still think the Orton/Bryan Raw match from the summer that was "stopped" with Bryan yelling at HHH backstage was a work. My gut feeling is this might be a similar deal.....but I hope not.

I could see him getting a concussion after that double back superplex. That seemed pretty damn snug.

Never liked that move. Guys mention it's scary sometimes to take a normal one, can't imagine taking one off the ropes just because you're taking a flat bump completely backwards off the top.

Was that report before or after Bryan tweeting about how humbled he felt by the reaction of the last segment? Not saying its fake but it's weird a guy who barely tweets and really doesn't give a damn about that kinda stuff would write about somthing he doesn't remember...I guess he could've watched it later but aren't you not supposed to watch tv when you had a concussion?

This screams work to me, but at the same time, the high impact style that Bryan wrestles it's pretty much a given that he's going to get concussions. And he already has a history of them going back to the ROH days. I love watching his matches but some of the stuff he does is just tempting fate of injury and long term health problems

 

I'd like this to be a work, I hope he didn't legit hurt his brain again. But I hated the worked concussion angle they did with HHH, so either way I don't like this

terrible news about the concussion but since he's probably going to be putting over Bray at the Rumble maybe it's for the best booking wise. Don't think he'll be winning the Rumble either so maybe this will keep him more protected. Hope he gets better because he deserves this run

If it were a proper heel turn, he'd be beating up some good guy for the turn.

Good call.

Also, let's not go overboard in explaining Kane's involvement. So he joined the Authority because he knew that Luke Harper would get pinned in Bryan's first match with the Wyatts and that Bray would want to tag with Bryan as a result and that Harper and Rowan would run in for the DQ in that match and that Brad Maddox would call for a rematch in a cage? That's not long-term planning, that's some Batman-level shit.

Is anyone suggesting that? I thought it was more that Kane was just biding his time until an opportunity arose, and when Maddox came up with the cage match he took his chance and decided to chain the door shut.

 

I still don't think this is what happened personally, but I think that's how some people have read it rather than Kane having some amazing foresight about events leading up to that point.

Dolph Ziggler is also said to have gotten another concussion and is being assessed by the WWE.

 

American Dragon I remember hearing had a very high amount of concussions and that was years ago. How accurate the information I heard was I don't know but once you get concussions it's easier to get the next one.

Also, let's not go overboard in explaining Kane's involvement. So he joined the Authority because he knew that Luke Harper would get pinned in Bryan's first match with the Wyatts and that Bray would want to tag with Bryan as a result and that Harper and Rowan would run in for the DQ in that match and that Brad Maddox would call for a rematch in a cage? That's not long-term planning, that's some Batman-level shit.

Is anyone suggesting that? I thought it was more that Kane was just biding his time until an opportunity arose, and when Maddox came up with the cage match he took his chance and decided to chain the door shut.

 

I still don't think this is what happened personally, but I think that's how some people have read it rather than Kane having some amazing foresight about events leading up to that point.

 

I hope that's how it happening. That's the kind of storytelling that works very well for me. If Kane helps Bryan out when Bryan is going for the title and/or at his most vulnerable (ideally both) against the authority the crowd is not only to go insane but it'd create one of those long term emotional memories that fans will always remember. It'd make sense for Bryan to have some inside help but keep it on the downlow. Even make it look like they're enimies a little bit to ward off suspicion from the authority but give enough to the audience such as what happened last night to give them hope they're still working together. Than you have that moment which I mentioned earlier and it'd be priceless.

 

Still personally hoping for a moment where Bryan is down and out ala Luger vs Flair when Sting comes down on crutches, slaps Luger in the face and tells him to kick his "you know what". Instead it would be Kane hollering at Bryan (No slapping concussions) that he's the weak link.

I hope that's how it happening. That's the kind of storytelling that works very well for me.

Don't get me wrong if it does turn out that Kane offered himself up to The Authority while secretly being an inside man and helping Bryan, that would be great.

It's just that I'd be surprised to see them pull off something like that. If that has been the plan all along or they decide to go in that direction at some point I'll be really pleased.

haven't considered this, but...

 

Bryan & Kane vs. DX @ Mania

 

???

 

not my favorite idea, but it sure wouldn't suck

I am going to be horribly vague and open ended here but has anyone here followed Bruce Mitchell's series of columns in the Torch about Bryan the past three weeks?