Daniel Bryan & The Authority Return

Daniel Bryan had an announcement to make on Raw this week. There was speculation that it might be his retirement. It wouldn't be the first fake retirement segment the WWE has had. Mark Henry had an epic one a while back that led to a title feud against John Cena. Daniel Bryan did not come back to announce his retirement. He came back to announce that he will be in the Royal Rumble.

Fans are still crazy for that guy. And you mean to tell me that Roman Reigns somehow got more votes from those fans to win the "Superstar of the Year" Slammy? Roman Reigns is not that over, he is not ready for a big push, and he has not had the kind of year in 2014 that certain other guys have had, including Daniel Bryan. Does that all mean that Daniel Bryan will once again be main-eventing Wrestlemania? If they book Roman Reigns to win the Royal Rumble over Daniel Bryan, they might have to turn Reigns heel like they did Batista. Will they book Reigns to win it? That is a topic for another day.

Raw did not end with Daniel Bryan's announcement. Raw ended with Seth Rollins getting John Cena to bring back The Authority. A lot of big things seemed to happen on this Raw. The segment was done well in general, but there is always something to complain about.

I am glad Triple H and Stephanie McMahon returned. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Thing is, I wouldn't have done it so soon. Triple H would obviously have to come back before Wrestlemania to further that likely feud against Sting. You also have Randy Orton's return being worth more if The Authority is around. A lot of fans are still complaining about The Authority coming back. I think this is comparable to the Nexus angle. A lot of fans had a lot to complain about there. One thing was John Cena losing his job in kayfabe and still showing up every week. They knew Cena was not gone for good, but they would have liked him to stay away for a while to sell the angle. The Authority was not gone too long. They could have had Seth Rollins continue his quest to bring them back for another 3 or 4 weeks. There would still be plenty of time to build something up for Wrestlemania. They also could have developed up to the return in a more epic fashion with that extra time.

You have Daniel Bryan on one side and The Authority on the other. You saw a ton of this since 2013. Will seeing more make you groan? This time around, having Randy Orton play a face might freshen things up. You also have Cena more involved as an enemy to The Authority than he was at one time. While he was feuding against Randy Orton last year, it was more like Cena and The Authority were fine with each other and everyone was against Randy Orton. The WWE has also done a better job utilizing guys like Ziggler against The Authority. You have Ambrose and Reigns. This will not be the same tired feud you had between Daniel Bryan and The Authority. There are more face players available.