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THE FUTURE OF DANIEL BRYAN IN WWE GOING FORWARD, DOES BROCK GET PAID FOR WALKING OUT AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2015-02-26 10:00:00

So Daniel Bryan loses his chance to headline Wrestlemania, admits he failed and...what the F***? How does any of this make him a top guy going forward? What now?

It doesn't make him a top guy, because while he's loved, he's not a top guy. He's not in the TOP FIVE MATCHES AT WRESTLEMANIA. That right there tells you everything you need to know. He wasn't going to be in the top matches LAST YEAR, either. People like to forget that.

The Daniel Bryan loss at Fast Lane and his subsequent promo was WWE's message to Bryan's fans that they weren't going to change what WWE locked in this year, the crowning of Roman Reigns as one of the top names in the company.

I love Bryan, I really do, but I've been writing since he lost at Hell in A Cell to Randy Orton in 2013 that the company didn't see him as a top guy. I wholeheartedly believe that had CM Punk not left after the 2014 Royal Rumble, we would not have seen the Wrestlemania 30 scenario. I also believe that had Bryan not gotten injured, he, not John Cena would have been the guy Brock Lesnar crushed to get the WWE World Heavyweight championship at Summerslam.

The sad lesson here is that no matter how much fans support someone, unless the company wants him to be a top guy, in the end, he won't be THE guy. Only Vince McMahon is going to determine that and as Chris Jericho wrote in his most recent book, McMahon scoffed at the idea of Bryan being a "star" because he didn't "eat meat."

Certainly, McMahon has warmed to Bryan since then, but to the point he's going to be the face of the company over Cena, Randy Orton or Roman Reigns? Never going to happen, sadly.

As far as his future, Bryan can move merchandise, have great matches and help makes others. He'll always have that spot of respected veteran, sort of like Jake Roberts had in the 1980s, but like Roberts, he'll likely be feuding with guys that are intended to be moving up the card down the line.

It's not a bad spot to be in and it's important, but unless something drastic happens and WWE has to turn to "old faithful", chances are Bryan as THE top guy, in his current incarnation, has seen it's run. Perhaps a heel turn will change that, but how can WWE ever hope to get fans to boo someone they love and respect that much?

So, Bryan will be in that Mick Foley role of beloved lifer who the company can always count on in a pinch (and maybe he'll even get another short-term reign again, Foley had three) but never the guy they look to carry the entire company on their back the way Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Ultimate Warrior, John Cena, etc. were expected to do...and all the "Yes" chants in the world likely won't change that. They didn't in 2015.

But why is RR's test a 'Ridiculous Story"? Unsubstantiated, yes. Denied, yes. Unproven, yes. But I think IF [and I don't believe it myself] RR failed a test do you honestly thing Vince would say Oops, let's get Bryan in that match instead. Yes, Vince has an out but do you think he's going to give up an intro with Rock and Rikishi and maybe more walking RR to the ring?

It's ridiculous because the initial source was someone with a brand new Reddit account writing a made-up story. The fact it spread so far and wide on social media and even websites that didn't even try to do their due dilligence is beyond pathetic in my opinon.

Break the story down and anyone with ANY sense can tell it's garbage.  The story is that Brock is angry Roman Reigns failed a test. 1 - Why would Lesnar care? 2 - Why would WWE tell Lesnar Reigns failed?  3 - If Reigns failed, why would WWE risk the public humiliation of something being shoved under the rug coming out as they head into their biggest mainstream media period of the year?  They'd suspend him and move on.  There was nothing for them to hide, because there was no test that he failed.

I can understand fans getting themselves all lathered up over a story that factually, made no sense, but for websites that are supposed to presenting themselves as legitimate outlets to run a story that basically had the logic of a fever-dream?  Ridiculous, much like the story.

I gotta ask. With Brock Lesnar's limited dates and big contract, he was booked and was technically at Monday Night Raw but walked out. Does WWE have to "count" that in his limited dates or do they have the rights to add a date to the build to Wrestlemania?

I'm going to err on the side of caution and say that it counts and he'll end up paid for the date. There's no way that whatever the issue is (financial or contractual is the best best), it'll be resolved by 3/9 as they need Lesnar for the Wrestlemania build.

So I live in Alberta and we are FINALLY getting the WWE Network next month (although my service provider hasn't announced a date yet, so that makes me nervous that I might be spending $60 on Wrestlemania again). My 7 year old son and I are wrestling buddies and we are committed to watch every Royal Rumble match in history because it's our favorite. My question is, where should we go from there? Thanks for the great job you guys do!

The plan is to have it on every outlet possible in Canada by Wrestlemania. If you are going to do every Rumble, why not do every Wrestlemania after that? I personally have enjoyed just picking a certain wrestler and following his career week to week on old Raws and PPVs.

Will we ever see a all tag team WWE HOF? I mean so many great tag teams (Steiner bros, Midnight Express, Freebirds, etc) that desirve it. What are the odds of the teams I listed making it?>

While I believe all of the teams you mentioned will one day be in the WWE Hall of Fame, I don't believe for a second they will ever do an "all" Tag Team Hall.

After watching the incredible high of the Triple Threat title match and the incredible dire low of the Royal Rumble match I see only one solution for how they can fix the situation and it doesn't involve Bryan being in the Wrestlemania main event. They need to book Rollins from now until Mania as not being scared of Brock any more. Playing up how close he was to winning and how close Brock was to losing. He needs to announce in advance that because of this he's cashing in at Mania and making it a Triple Threat match and have him go over Brock and Reigns. He takes at Reigns with a curb stomp through the announce table and pins Brock clean. Rollins is ready, Reigns is not. Your thoughts? Do you see another way that Mania can again be saved after Vince makes a complete mess for the second year?

Rollins still has the Money in the Bank briefcase, so it's entirely possible we see him cash in at Wrestlemania. We shall see.

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