Daniel Bryan did not defeat Roman Reigns at Fast Lane and will not be in the WWE title match at Wrestlemania. A lot of fans feel deflated. Fans in Philadelphia hated what happened at the Royal Rumble and there was the expected Internet backlash. What followed was that feud between Reigns and Bryan with the winner getting Lesnar for the title. The WWE made the decision to stick with Reigns. And you even had Daniel Bryan go out there the night after on Raw and put Reigns over. That is a rub. And that is also why rubs are often overrated. Fans still are going to dislike Reigns. His win from Daniel Bryan and people talking about how great he is will not be enough to win over enough fans.
I think the WWE made the right decision. As I have said before, fans just did not want it bad enough. Last year, fans were so crazy and intense, I felt like the WWE might look like absolute villains if they did not treat Bryan better. There were even a few moments I felt fans might legitimately snap and something big would happen. This year, I did not get that same feeling outside of the Royal Rumble and the immediate reaction from that. Daniel Bryan is more over than Roman Reigns, but you are not just looking for a majority ruling here. To be inducted into some Hall of Fames, you have to have at least 75% or 80% of the vote. It is some high percentage, depending on what exactly you are talking about. A little more than 50% is not enough. Why should the WWE have such high requirements in this situation? Because you just had this issue last year. You not only spoiled your Wrestlemania plans, but you did it for the benefit of the same guy that you might be spoiling them again this year. And if you are going to do that again, the fans better want it as badly as they did last year. I don't feel they did. Reactions were not the same. I even saw some Daniel Bryan fans say that they would not enjoy a repeat of last year. That was probably not what the majority of his fans would say, but some fans that were excited for last year definitely did not want a repeat.
I have read a little of what other fans and pundits have said. I think some people are overreacting. Some make it sound like the WWE has been out to bury Daniel Bryan and his fans since the Royal Rumble. No. The WWE booked Daniel Bryan fairly leading up to Fast Lane. They did not run a storyline where Daniel Bryan was being humiliated every step of the way. They did not make his character look so awful. If you want to blame the WWE for mistreating Daniel Bryan last year, you have a point. If you want to blame the WWE for not booking the Royal Rumble this year better, you have a point. If you want to blame them for Roman Reigns getting a big push he does not deserve, you have a point. If you want to criticize them for the match they are likely to give Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania this year, which I will get to, you can do that. But do you want to say that they purposely tried to ruin Daniel Bryan's overness in the last few weeks? Do you honestly believe they are intentionally boring their fans so they will be less lively and the pops for Daniel Bryan would be softer? Problem with that theory, it is also the WWE's chosen ones that are hurt by this. Not being able to put out an entertaining product is hurting crowd reactions, not a desire to bury one guy. The WWE never wanted to push Daniel Bryan as an A+ player. That is true. But if the fan reactions were really that intense for him, there would have been a lot more pressure on the WWE to change plans in his favor. It is not just a matter of the Daniel Bryan fans being beaten into submission. Some of them just did not want it to happen again. A lot of them are just bored with the product in general. Even though Daniel Bryan is still someone I say has A+ overness, it has died down a bit since his return. Again, the same pressure just was not there this year that was last year. And I do not think the WWE tried to bury Daniel Bryan during that feud with Reigns.
Since his return, I have also noticed that Daniel Bryan isn't exactly the same in the ring. He can still put on a solid match, but I feel like he can do more. There was also one certain spot during Raw this week that caught my eye and made me want to talk about his ring work right now. That missed diving headbutt. That looked like it hurt. This guy just returned from surgery a few weeks ago. It is those kind of spots that will lead to him needing more time off. On the one hand, you want him to be careful to stay healthy. On the other hand, if he doesn't wrestle that certain style that excites fans, will he start losing some of them? Most wrestling fans will always respect Daniel Bryan. They know what he has done and he still performs well enough for them to love him. Other fans? That is where some support might diminish.
Now that Daniel Bryan is out for the WWE title match, you have to wonder what the WWE really has in store for him. A multi-challenger ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship has been announced. Daniel Bryan was involved in that scene on Smackdown this week. No, not what Daniel Bryan deserves. When thinking about the title feud between Ambrose and Barrett, I did not feel this feud was worthy of leading to the rematch at Wrestlemania. It just didn't seem big enough and didn't seem like what the WWE would do. Making it a ladder match and throwing in a few more bodies? Yeah, that makes it big enough and seems like what the WWE would do. Regardless, Daniel Bryan deserves better than being in this match. It is not only a question of whether the Intercontinental Championship is beneath him. This guy is arguably the most over full-time performer you have. Why shouldn't he have some kind of personal singles feud? If not that, get him involved is some other feud that is going on that is more important. You are having him get involved in a midcard feud between Dean Ambrose and Wade Barrett. I would rather he face Sheamus. There is also the issue of his health, which I just brought up, but I'm sure he'll know what he's doing in this ladder match, if that is how things go.
I have looked at how some Daniel Bryan fans have reacted to this potential Wrestlemania match for their guy. I haven't come across many complaints. Some are already anticipating United States Champion John Cena vs. Intercontinental Champion Daniel Bryan to unify the titles. Okay. That's nice. I won't get into that now. I will say I am a little bit disappointed. They don't think Daniel Bryan deserves better than this match? They are settling so easily. And if they will settle so easily, then the WWE pretty much made the right decision by not forcing Daniel Bryan into the WWE title match. They can get those fans interested for Wrestlemaia and watching without even pushing Daniel Bryan in a top feud. The WWE just won. The WWE didn't need to beat these fans into submission. They are already open to settling.
The WWE won the war against Daniel Bryan fans. This war wasn't even against Daniel Bryan. He doesn't seem to care too much about being pushed as an A+ player. If he was bothered so much about it, he would probably leave. The thing is, the WWE gave the fans a fair chance to be as demanding as they were last year. They just did not show up. And if they are going to settle the way they have, it is obvious that the WWE can just keep on going the way they are. Daniel Bryan is not buried to oblivion. The fans are not buried. They are still getting things they like seeing. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd, two guys these kind of fans love, just won the tag titles. They won the titles the same night the WWE supposedly stuck the dagger into the hearts of all the smarks. The WWE won and they won very easily. Fans just did not want it bad enough.
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