Vince blaming Bryan for poor Summerslam buyrate

At first glance it’s crazy isn’t it. My initial thoughts were that Bryan was the most over anyone has been for years and they couldn’t not pull the trigger on him and they couldn’t not have him go over Cena. Pair that with the HHH/Orton double turn and the brilliant Punk v Lesnar match it’s fair to say both main events were strongly promoted and delivered solidly. You’d have to say the WWE couldn’t have done much more in terms of making the main events a big draw and that its surprising the buy rate was low. But as I said those were my initial thoughts.

Upon reflection I ask myself is it actually Daniel Bryan who is over, or is it his Yes chant which is over? The live crowds are sucked into the Yes chants, they love it, Bryan gets them going and the crowds lap it up. It’s probably the most popular chant since Stone Cold’s ‘WHAT’ chant. The live crowds in attendance love it but does it generate the same buzz to viewers watching on tv? I know that personally I don’t care much for the Yes chant which leads me to ask - is Bryan’s party trick the best thing he has going for him in terms of being a main event level draw? Are the wider audience supposed to take a guy seriously who is most famous for getting the live crowds to chant yes? Sure he’s a great technical wrestler but as we know that isn’t necessarily enough to be a main eventer. You need character, charisma, diversity, promo and presence. All of which in my opinion Daniel Bryan is lacking. The easiest comparison to make for someone of Bryan’s build and background is CM Punk. In terms of character, charisma, diversity, promo and presence CM Punk is streets ahead of Bryan yet Punk himself still isn’t regarded as a marquee attraction. It begs the question – Does Vince have a point?

I’ve always had my doubts as the whether Bryan could truly be ‘the man’ based on his shortcomings mentioned above. You also have to wonder about how much Triple H hasn’t helped with his constant burial of Bryan over the months. Although we’re led to believe it’s the ‘onscreen’ Triple H burying Bryan I think we can all be sure Triple H means every word and enjoys every second of the burial.

To conclude – and the irony of it all - is Daniel Bryan a B+ player?

Yes, I think he is.

YES! the yes chant is over, very over.  The crowd chant it whenever they get the chance.  However.  Look at the crowd reactions from when Cena chose him and when he won the title.  Bryan gets arguably the biggest pops of the night, and its not just with YES!

Yes, he comes up second to Punk when charisma is involved.  But the nasty, intense side he showed attacking Michaels could be the spark that sets him off on a new character path.  Punk shattered the glass ceiling with one promo, but it took him a good few months to climb out the hole.

Ever since Lesnar split after the biggest push we've ever seen a rookie get, the WWE are consistently afraid of pulling the trigger.  Give Bryan another couple of months out of the title picture, and, provided WWE dont drop the ball, he'll be top of the pile again come Mania.

The yes chant is over but all you have to do is listen to the crowd during his matches, the intensity he brings to matches, particularly high profile matches has the fans eating out the palm of his hands, the crowd are hot as hell during his matches, thats not down to the Yes chant, thats down to the raw emotion he drags out of the live crowd

Absolutely agree with gaffer. You could see months ago that they were going to screw it up and then blame Bryan. The build-up to the Summerslam match was mind-boggling and completely at odds with the formula that has always worked in wrestling.

It's not Bryan's fault. It's WWE's.

It's interesting. I never saw him as the A guy as such, but they have definitely elevated him. From recent memory, to make a big guy you push him once, he fades a touch then he comes back again. Considering it looked like Bryan v Kane after the breakup, but instead he's been main eventing and beating Cena clean.

I’m not sure I’ve explained myself properly.

At the time of Summerslam the WWE hadn’t screwed it up yet. Bryan was on the crest of a wave and apparently massively popular going into the match with Cena yet the buyrate was low. I’m aware that Bryan garners a strong reaction from the live crowds but what I’m not convinced about is whether that translates to the larger casual audience watching on their tv screens. If I was in live attendance I’d be caught up in the atmosphere chanting ‘YES’ along with every other mark but when I’m sat on my sofa watching Bryan it’s a different story. I don’t find he has the intensity or charisma to have me on the edge of my sofa at home as a PPV buyer. Could CM Punk make me part with £14.95 on his own? Yes. Could Daniel Bryan? No. If it wasn’t for the Punk v Lesnar match I wouldn’t have bought the PPV.

Daniel Bryan = good crowd reactions helped massively with his silly chant.

Does Daniel Bryan = ratings? I don’t think so.

B+ player all day long in my book.

I think he's a little below Punk, but what Punk has is more experience of the ups and downs of being pushed and he's also become so important that he's very well protected. Bryan is behind on that so won't have that mass appeal yet.

Of course, half the problem is that he has feuded with a fake champion.

Randy Orton is notorious for being the Champion when ratings take a nose dive so if ratings are on the wane maybe its the face rather than the goat

Again, all I can say is that it's about the presentation. You do not make stars by talking about their weaknesses. The fans were essentially told by WWE week after week why they should not support Bryan.

Bryan's strengths are what they claim to be his weaknesses though so in highlighting them they make you route for him all the more, his weaknesses are proving to be not weaknesses at all and indeed the very strengths that set him apart from the majority of the roster

I’m also not convinced the WWE have faith in Bryan to be a top player.

After the role HHH played in the HIAC loss and after attacking HBK on Raw they easily could have forced an angle where Bryan and HHH would have to settle their differences but instead Bryan has been dropped back into the midcard in favour of the Big Show. When HHH is high on someone historically he’ll have a match with them himself – Sheamus, Batista, Punk are evidence of this. Yet we haven’t seen any indication of a HHH v Bryan match. Read into that what you will.

I blame The Miz...

WWE stopped Bryan from becoming a top player, not Bryan.

Im waiting to see where they go with the Wyatt involvement.  If thats the last of Bryan vs The Authority then I'll be peed, especially if Bryan doesnt get revenge.

bryan sucks simple, cena shold never lose
more cena wins more money you make.

I don't see how in this day and age any one person can be blamed for a poor buyrate. This isn't the old days where it was taken as read that the champ drew the house.

There's no way in hell that Bryan should take the flak for Summerslam, he did everything in his power to build up a following - generating reactions that most babyfaces would kill for - and WWE buried him.

Whatever happened to the tried and trusted method of building up a challenger as "the greatest threat the champion has ever faced"? In Bryan's case though he was hand-picked by the WWE champ and then we were constantly reminded that he was undeserving of a shot, despite beating former WWE champions Randy Orton and Shamoose clean in the weeks prior. So all the good they did in building Bryan with these wins was obliterated the moment people started talking about him being a 'B+ Player'.

WWE should have taken the Paul Heyman / ECW method of accentuating the positives and hiding the negatives. Remember, Taz was presented as the baddest man on the planet in ECW and because of HOW he was presented the fans bought into it, despite the 'Human Suplex Machine' standing about 4 feet tall.

In Bryan's case, yeah he's short and not exactly what would generally be accepted as a looker but he can wrestle better than practically everybody in the company, can cut a decent promo and has a tremendous following. How hard can it be to build the guy up as a legit star?

The answer is: It's not. But it definitely seems as if there are ulterior motives when it comes to Daniel Bryan, especially with his demotion to the position of elevating the Wyatt Family.

For all the talk of what has this done to Bryan, I would ask what is it doing to Orton? He's got the belt, but he doesnt come over as a champion

Does he need to at this stage? He's fully established, he's beat everyone there is to beat over the years, for the last 12 months he was putting on 15-25 weekly clinics since RAW went to 3 hours, I'm not overly concerned with Orton, for me he is a guy who is good enough to beat anyone fairly on his day but has chosen to take the easy option.

Look how Punk suddenly started getting results after aligning with Heyman

I guess, but as much as I'll defend the Authority angle and HHH's role so far, it does feel like he's the champion but he is just using Orton's body to wrestle. If things dont change, where does Orton go when the title is lost? If he holds the belt until WM30, it won't be him the camera pans to for shock and awe devastation, it'll be Triple H.

He's a big enough guy to get away with it, probably, but all that time spent bitching about getting the chance to be a heel and he's got what he wanted. Its come with a loss of identity and a shadow character role, but least he gets a title

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I guess, but as much as I'll defend the Authority angle and HHH's role so far, it does feel like he's the champion but he is just using Orton's body to wrestle.

But isn't that the whole point of The Authority? They hold power over everyone including Orton. The Authority IS the WWE Champion and Orton is the guy they've put their trust in to make sure it stays that way.

In the bigger picture we'll look back and remember how Bryan tried to bring The Authority down, but he couldn't do it. The Big Show is now going to try and bring The Authority down, but he wont do it. They have to make The Authority appear strong and give them longetivity so it's more monumental when the office is eventually brought down. The empire can't fall at the first hurdle.

Hopefully the guy to do it will be Punk. Punk beats Orton for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania. You could even have Bryan face HHH at Mania too earlier on the card. Bryan comes out to celebrate with Punk to close the show reminiscent of Benoit/Eddie 10 years earlier and Punk/Bryan have their Wrestlemania moment.

Hashtag creamy boxer shorts.

Oh, I agree, it just doesnt do Orton many favours. I fully agree that The Authority needs to be the power, I just think they could do it in a way that makes Orton look stronger

I don't think Orton will be Champion going into WrestleMania

Who do you think will be you Glaswegian piece of skirt?

  

I think it'll be Daniel Bryan, they could go with Orton as the Champion and Bryan winning the Rumble to get his 'final' shot of course but I'm not so sure, I just think they might put it on Bryan before then, I think Punk/Lesnar is nailed on, no idea if it'll be for the WHC, they don't need it to enhance the feud tho, but I would love to see Punk go over a top player for a World Title, still the destruction of Heyman is enough to bring Lesnar back without the need to have him beat Cena for the Title and Punk to win the Rumble