If I called this a "bitchin'" WrestleMania season, I wouldn't be far off track. Not "bitchin'" as in "it's been great" (although I don't think it's been bad at all), but because everyone has something to bitch about, or so it seems.
To clarify before we get any further, I have no problem with Roman Reigns. Would he have been my choice to book in the Mania main event? Probably not this year, but who else? Certainly not Daniel Bryan.
Suddenly, my face appears on the basement dartboards of Internet wrestling complainers...err..."fans" everywhere. No Daniel Bryan? How could that be?
I'll be the first to admit that I was one of thousands in the Consol Energy Center at Royal Rumble 2014 who was absolutely pissed that Bryan did not even show up in the Rumble match, but also that Batista won it. There was zero logic to it. Bryan had the most fan-backed momentum of any star in the company in at least a decade. As we all know, the booking shifted and "D-Bry" went on to have his huge "Yes Yes Yes" WrestleMania moment that everyone wanted.
That was last year.
Just a few months after, Bryan was injured, out of the picture, and seemingly with a finished career. That's no fault of Bryan, WWE, or his huge following, it's just the cards that he was dealt.
Fast forward to the end of 2014 and a miracle has occurred. Daniel Bryan has found a doctor with a method to treat and heal his career-threatening injuries. He will now be in the 2015 Royal Rumble, leading many fans to think that he will win it.
He does not.
I will not even get into how obnoxious the Internet wrestling "fans" have been following the events of the Royal Rumble. I've known some pathetic and babyfied wrestling devotees in my day, but I had no idea that there were so many. Death threats against Reigns, Vince McMahon, and others in the company? Please. You couldn't even follow through with your threats to cancel WWE Network.
Yes, I complained about the 2014 Rumble, but I got over it. There was also no logical reason that Bryan shouldn't have won that Rumble rather than be awkwardly shoehorned into the WrestleMania XXX main event. We had a right to get vocal. We received a winner who was never any great shakes in the ring to begin with and had a moderate following at best during his peak. I won't even mention that the guy was a "part-timer" who had just returned after an absence of several years.
This year, the "fans" turned on a Rumble winner who is on the cusp of becoming a new star. Isn't that something else that is always complained about? "No new stars are ever made, just the same old, same old." And I shouldn't have to mention that this same man was being salivated over by many of these same "fans" just a few months earlier. That salivation ended when "precious" Daniel Bryan didn't win.
As I stated above, I wouldn't have had him win either. To begin with, the "Daniel Bryan Underdog Story" already happened! Why would the company book a retread for their biggest show of the year? Would Lesnar-Bryan have been a good story? Possibly. Would they have had a good match? Maybe.
Ultimately, if this were 2012-2013 Lesnar, it would have been okay. With 2014 Lesnar and the way that he has been booked, I don't know that I could have gotten into it. Lesnar has been booked as an absolute monster in the past twelve months in a style that really has never been seen before in WWE rings. All the flying knees in the world wouldn't have me convinced that Bryan could unseat "The Beast."
The other, and more important, reason that I would not have booked Bryan is the uncertainty factor. If I'm McMahon, do I put all of my eggs into the basket of a guy who has proven to be a bit fragile? What if this "miracle procedure" fails and suddenly Bryan can't go a week before the show? The group-think followers don't want to hear that, but it's true. Anyone can get injured at any time, but why take the higher risk? Sure, WrestleMania was built on risks, but with corporate WWE that's no longer necessary.
Do I agree with every decision that WWE makes? Far from it. But the only thing that is baffling me this season is the ridiculous backlash. It's telling that Bryan followers are so blinded by the guy that they can't see the bigger picture, but it's reality. I want to see the guy have a long, successful.run on top, too, but WrestleMania 31 just isn't the place for it.
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