WWE: The Daniel Bryan conundrum

Daniel Bryan

There are instances in the professional wrestling industry when the fans get to choose who should be in the main event scene.

In WWE, that sometimes mounts to nothing, as Vince McMahon and the WWE management prefer making their own stars, rather than pushing an established superstar.

You have the examples of Ric Flair, Bill Goldberg and the likes who weren’t given their due in the WWE, but were kept on the side burner, after being the franchise players for different organizations. Also, WWE has always been skeptical about pushing smaller guys, those who weren’t big and muscular. And when you put those two together, it is almost impossible to make it big in the WWE.

When CM Punk broke those shackles two years ago, there was hope of a change in the WWE. Although for a brief period, it did look like WWE would change its mindset about such performers, they went back to pushing guys who met their idea of a WWE superstar. So when Daniel Bryan stepped up after WrestleMania, the possibility of him making it to the top was a distant dream.

Fast forward to July, he is the new number one contender for the WWE title at SummerSlam, and is the hottest star in the company. Now, the real question remains: Can Bryan dethrone John Cena and become the face of the company?

The answer to that question is anything but easy. Two years ago, the WWE Universe witnessed a similar situation with a certain CM Punk. After Punk delivered the earth shattering ‘Pipe bomb’ promo, his stake in the WWE sky rocketed, and he soon won the WWE title and cemented himself as a main eventer.

He went on to hold the title for 434 days, the longest reign in over 25 years! But was Punk able to change the mindset of the organization? The answer is yes and no.

Punk did change the way the WWE management looks at a superstar, but he was unable to change who they consider to be their franchise player. In a way, Punk was able to transform the notion of a superstar in the minds of fans and WWE management, but wasn’t able to change the John Cena effect in the WWE.

The proof of that was WWE taking the title off him at Royal Rumble and use The Rock as a way to put Cena over. WWE didn’t hesitate for a second to put Cena over at the expense of ending Punk’s record breaking run.

What purpose did it solve in the long run? Nothing except Cena being the new WWE champion.