Daniel Bryan is currently trending worldwide on Twitter, after making his WWE return at tonight's SummerSlam pay-per-view.- WWE did the best they could in keeping Bryan's return a surprise. Several people who were backstage at SummerSlam all afternoon had no idea Bryan was even there until he showed up. The first word about Bryan being there leaked around 8pm EST.
WWE has added Bryan back on the RAW roster so it looks like he's back full-time now.
Every year throughout the
IWC there are thousands of so-called experts sitting in their parents
basement across the country screaming for change. They decry the tired,
old, boring, stale WWE product for its lack of fresh material, long-term
continuity in booking and successful execution of important
storylines.
Now, as a so-called expert
sitting in my parents basement, I feverishly pound away at my Macbook
Pro with true excitement that we may have witnessed one of the more
important Summerslams in recent years. For a long time we have asked for
WWE to bring us new characters that can tell fresh storylines, not
rehashes of played out filler PPV fodder. WWE-haters, it’s time to start
paying attention.
Before revisiting Sunday
night, let’s take a step back 12 months. Last year’s Summerslam wasn’t a
half-bad show. We thought we were going to get the beginning of a major
push for one Dolph Ziggler as he competed for the IC championship
against Rey Mysterio. Coincidentally enough, he was once again in the
same spot of the card, battling for the same belt, this time against
Kofi Kingston. We also had what we thought was going to be a hot feud
between MVP and Jack Swagger. While neither was on the card this year,
it’s pretty clear to see the polar directions these two have traveled
since last August. We were in the midst of another money-grabbing,
boring, uninspired D-X reunion that thankfully didn’t last much longer.
Then there was the 8-second Christian victory against William Regal in
the legendary feud for the ECW Title. The duel main events were both top
notch. While Cena-Orton has been seen plenty of times, they do always
deliver and draw. Then we had what we thought then was the changing of
the guard as CM Punk and Jeff Hardy headlined the second biggest PPV of
the year. Unfortunately, despite tearing the house down, CM Punk is back
in the midcard as he feuds with the Big Show in a storyline that can
only be described as ‘meh’ and Jeff Hardy is wrestling midcard matches
on TV shows against Shannon Moore. Yes, Jeff Hardy – the new Shawn
Michaels is facing a former member of 3-Count. Cocaine’s a helluva
drug.
Now, take a look at this
year’s card. While we did have a groaner of a storyline with Kane and
Rey leading to the not-so-shocking Undertaker return, the rest of the
card was solid and very much fresh.
Kofi and Ziggler have a good
feel to them. While we got the screwy finish to their match, it wasn’t
all that bad because it helped put over The Nexus and their rivalry over
the belt can continue. I’ll ignore the SES – Big Show match because WWE
doesn’t seem to know what to do with either character(s). Here’s to
wishing we’d just see Gallows and Mercury pair up and go after the tag
titles and let Punk move back up the card where he belongs.
The rest of the card,
though, along with the booking involved, is what the WWE needs to do to
sell the next generation and draw in that much valued 18-35 year old
male demographic.
First, we have Sheamus vs.
the red-hot Randy Orton. Sheamus couldn’t lose the belt here. He needed
to look strong, hold onto the belt and play up his villianry a little
longer. Meanwhile, this continued to establish Orton as a bonafide
badass. The had a sold match by all reports that really pulled in the
crowd during the second half. Orton is a WWE Heavyweight main event
veteran and he’s clearly teaching Sheamus the steps needed to get the
fans going in the WWE Universe. A DQ finish will draw boos from the IWC
purists who despite the existence of the booking technique, but I can’t
argue here. Sheamus keeps the belt, but still gets his comeuppance in
the end. Orton looks like a menace, a great anti-hero that the young
adult fans can grasp onto. I don’t expect Orton to ever defeat Sheamus
for the belt, as I anticipate HHH returning to collect another title
reign in his vengeance, but Orton doesn’t need the belt right now
anyway. He just can’t look weak and this match accomplished all of the
above.
Then we have the main event
with the best surprise return since Cena at the Rumble. But before we
get too much into this, we need to hit the rewind on my DVR and review
the Miz’s midcard promo. It’s uncommon for WWE to dedicate extensive
airtime on a PPV to a promo. The best example of this I can recall was
coincidentally two years ago at Summerslam when the epic Jericho-HBK
feud kicked into turbo drive with Jericho inadvertently punching
Michaels’ wife Rebecca in the face. Sunday, Miz drew serious heel heat,
pushing back his fans that are begging for more awesomeness. Think of
this as Mr. Kennedy heat prior to his ill-fated face-turn. Learning from
Kennedy’s short-comings, Miz must stay heel, stay cocky and continue to
bring down the chorus of boos, and that’s exactly what he did here. He
looked like a star and that really drove home the biggest shocker of the
night.
Of course, I’m speaking of the return of Daniel Bryan.
Indy fanboys were either
marking out or crying as they saw the American Dragon return to the WWE,
welcomed by their sworn enemy John Cena into the hottest storyline in
professional wrestling today. This entrance, this match may be a turning
point for Bryan Danielson and, if WWE plays their cards in this
direction, a turning point for the company. Daniel Bryan is a star. With
adequate follow-up during the coming months, as long as they keep
neck-ties well out of his reach, he will be a legit draw and main event
player by the end of this year. I hate to say it, but I can’t rule out a
Daniel Bryan match being among the multiple Wrestlemania Main Events
this coming spring. That is just how important this return could be for
the company.
And to take it a step
further, WWE demonstrated storyline continuity we haven’t seen from the
creative team in some time. We saw the continued feud between the Miz
and Daniel Bryan that began on the first episode of NXT: Season One. We
also revisited the book Bryan received from the Nexus the night the
stable debuted for “showing remorse,” in their initial attack of the WWE
and specifically John Cena.
During the match, Bryan
looked like a beast by making quick work of Darren Young and he remains
strong since Miz contributed to his elimination. Disoriented, the Nexus
doesn’t look weak having lost to Team WWE considering the star power
they were up again. We’ve seen super-Cena overcome 2-on-1 odds dozens of
times before, so Barrett and Gabriel don’t really lose too much heat as
long as they come back and roll some heads on Raw. The feud is still
hot and even has had gasoline poured on the flame with Bryan’s return.
Never thought I’d say this before, but I’m looking forward to watching
Raw because of Bryan F’N Danielson.
Six months ago, I wouldn’t
have imagined this type of Summerslam possible. Think about it. Shawn
Michaels retired. HHH was injured. The Undertaker is slowing down more
rapidly than ever before. Orton’s face-turn was in its infancy and Edge
was switching back to his evil-doing ways after a failed run as a crowd
favorite. Punk and Mysterio always seemed to be dealing with a nagging
injury and there wasn’t much in the way of young talent ready to break
through. Vince McMahon said in recent interviews that he attributes to
the dropping PPV buyrates to the lack of proven draws. John Cena can
bring in the cash, but he can’t do it alone. Without HBK, HHH or Taker,
pulling in the casual fan is difficult.
Vince is dedicated to
building new stars. On this PPV alone, in the main event, we watched
Daniel Bryan, The Miz, Wade Barrett, Skip Sheffield and Justin Gabriel
elevated. John Morrison and R-Truth also played prominent roles. This
doesn’t include the recent pushes for Swagger, McIntyre and Cody Rhodes
as they push for airtime and develop their characters.
WWE Universe, welcome to the youth movement.