Stephanie McMahon Vs Daniel Bryan - WWE's 'Feud of The Year'

Mr. McMahon is one of the most iconic heels in the WWE. Vince McMahon played being an abusive, dictatorial boss to perfection. Nobody really sympathizes for a billionaire. And every great villain needs a great hero. Stone Cold Steve Austin wasn’t your typical ethical virtuous hero. He had an attitude and a reputation for a being tough guy. He was a bald headed, bear drinking rebellious redneck. He went around saying, “Don’t Trust Anybody.” What made this feud special was the fact that these two characters represented two polar opposite positions in the existing social order.

For the audience, Austin represented a position of employees exploited and abused by their wealthy bosses.  Their rivalry remains one of the most defining ones in the WWE and it has kind of been recycled into the PG Era. For in the PG Era, Mr. McMahon’s role has been embodied more by Stephanie McMahon that Triple H and Daniel Bryan is their victim. Daniel Bryan is not Stone Cold Steve Austin or vice versa and that’s good. Apart from being an employee, he is also an underdog- something that Stone Cold Steve Austin was not because he was just badass.

The match at Extreme Rules may have been set as Kane Vs Daniel Bryan but in retrospect, it is not a feud between the former Anger management partners but a feud between the Billion Dollar Princess and Daniel Bryan. The stark similarity between the Mr. McMahon character and Stephanie McMahon’s character is that both of them are wealthy, abusive, dictatorial bosses and both of them are untrained wrestlers.

McMahon got the hell beaten out by Austin but Stephanie will never face that from Bryan and she shouldn’t either. That’ll be really distasteful. But Stephanie still gets away with slapping Bryan and that’s distasteful too and a heel is supposed to be disgusting. So here it is, while Vince McMahon had Stone Cold, Stephanie has Bryan. And if Kane loses, which he most probably will, she’ll find someone else to torment Bryan.

While Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were portrayed as equal haters of Daniel Bryan, Stephanie always came out looking like a better heel. As far as consistency goes The Shield, Wyatt Family, Paul Heyman and Stephanie McMahon are the ones to count on. Ever since she called Bryan a B+ player, the feud was set. A case has been made in the past of Brie Bella being the adversary for Stephanie as Triple H was set to take on Bryan. But thinking about it now seems like that would have been a bit disappointing. Bella’s character won’t match up to what Stephanie McMahon.  And it is almost set in stone that Stephanie won’t really wrestle one more match in the ring. Atleast that hasn’t been a topic of discussion ever.

Surely, two years ago Bryan and his Yes Movement began sweeping every other WWE show. They have become a mainstay and they will stay long after he’s gone just like Stone Cold’s ‘What’ seems to be ever present. It will follow and seep into every night and the universality of the chant makes it even more appropriate. It’s a great victory chants and it is a great way to shut somebody up if you are determined to shout it out and it’s also a great exercise for your arms. Seriously, somebody should look at the health benefits of the chant.

Everything on record since August 2013 has been a possible and eventual feud between Bryan and Triple H but it seems like the underlying detail was that it was Stephanie McMahon all along. While Triple H has moved on to the Shield, Stephanie McMahon seems to be continuing doing what she has been doing since the past 8 months.

It is and has always been Stephanie McMahon vs Daniel Bryan. Don’t you think?