Aside from being the centerpiece and face of the company, John Cena is a character. He is a character a lot of people do not like. He overcomes the odds, he bounces back from beatings like nothing happened, and he sometimes sounds like a politician during his promos. He has held this character for close to a decade. People hate how stale he has become.
Is Daniel Bryan the next Cena? The odds were certainly stacked against him recently. What did he do? Overcome. It looked like he was injured. What does he do? He just seemed to shrug that off after winning. And to top it all off, a lot of his promos recently have sounded like what you would expect out of John Cena. Being an underdog is one thing, but you really can make the argument that the WWE is developing Daniel Bryan to have the kind of character John Cena has. And I have noticed some fans already bringing it up.
Of course, Daniel Bryan has a few things going for him to save him from getting Cena-like reactions. He is a better wrestler. I don't think the WWE can ever do anything to ruin that. And he is still insanely over. They might be able to eventually ruin that. Maybe. Moreover, he has not become as stale as Cena. If they succeed in making Daniel Bryan stale, then they might succeed in ruining him. I am not saying they would intentionally do that, but it might be a side effect of attempting to developing Daniel Bryan to have John Cena's character, if that is the road they are heading down.
Do they really need to give Daniel Bryan these types of feuds and storylines that make him look like Cena? The Rock and Austin did not have that kind of character. The Rock electrified. Austin raised hell. Cena overcomes odds. All these guys feuded against the authority figures above them during their time in the company. But they all had different characters. The way they are handling Daniel Bryan, his character is looking more like Cena's than any other wrestler's. I cannot imagine Daniel Bryan electrifying like The Rock. He does have the fans going crazy, but he doesn't go about it like The Rock did. I cannot imagine Daniel Bryan raising hell like Austin. He has gotten the better of The Authority now, but not through the elaborate segments in which Austin did it. I don't need to imagine Daniel Bryan overcoming odds like John Cena would. I see it happening.
Personally, Daniel Bryan does not annoy me as much as Cena. I am more annoyed by the reaction he gets. It has gotten too insane. Blame the WWE for that. They shouldn't have played with those fans. And those few fans that are picking apart Daniel Bryan and comparing him to John Cena may just be over-analyzing it. If and when the majority of fans start turning on Daniel Bryan, then you can start looking at why that is. Right now, he is still very over and is getting what he deserves.
Let me go back to what I talked about a few days ago about the WWE Network and Wrestlemania. I said that Wrestlemania XXX should get at least 700,000 PPV buys to really match what you would want out of a Wrestlemania this special. I did not really explain very well how I came up with that benchmark number. I don't want it to seem like I am pulling numbers out of the air. Outside of the big four WWE PPVs (Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Summerslam, Survivor Series), these "special events" typically get over 100,000 buyers or 200,000 buyers. Usually somewhere around there. Survivor Series may not be that big anymore, but that is another issue. Point is, how do you go from those kind of numbers in recent years to all the way to 1,000,000 for Wrestlemania? That is a difference of roughly 800,000 buys. Who are these people? Wrestlemania is the biggest wrestling event of the year. It creates hype. That hype is what draws in the casual fans, as well as some regulars that always watch the big event, if usually no other PPV of the year. As I have said before, I don't think the WWE Network will be that appealing to casual fans. Even a lot of regular fans may not be willing to subscribe, whether due to money issues, technical difficulties, or whatever. Even though the WWE Network has 650,000 subscribers, don't automatically assume that it is taking a huge chunk out of that 1,000,000 you would expect for big Wrestlemanias. Wrestlemania is a major success because it is a top draw for the casuals, those fans least likely to get the WWE Network. Wrestlemanias in recent years have drawn roughly 800,000 more than the regular PPV buys. I think having a 700,000-buy benchmark is fair. I am giving them some leeway. The Network got a lot more subscribers than I thought it would, but when it comes to how many people actually bought Wrestlemania out of the non-subscribers, I am not confident this Wrestlemania came up with great numbers.
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