wrestling / Columns

Hindsight is 20/20: What If Daniel Bryan Wasn’t Injured?

October 5, 2014 | Posted by Greg De Marco

The fans in the Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center, and the fans watching around the world, were getting restless with each Royal Rumble entrant. 25 had already entered, and it was time for number 26…Ryback…Alberto Del Rio…three more to go…Batista…maybe he really is going to win…Big E Langston…one more to go…I know we’re missing Rey Mysterio but he’s been hurt and might actually not be in the match…10…9…8…7…could be really be Daniel Bryan…6…5…4…please be Daniel Bryan…3…2…1…DAMMIT!

That was the mind of wrestling columnist and radio personality Greg DeMarco watching the 2014 Royal Rumble. As we all know, Batista would go on to win the match and punch his ticket to the WrestleMania main event, a spot that many fans believed would go to Daniel Bryan. You can’t blame them—WWE storytelling was headed in that same direction since August!

Rewind back to early November. WWE presented Hell In a Cell eight days prior, where Daniel Bryan in his bid to regain the then WWE Championship in the Cell against Randy Orton, a title that had been held in abeyance since the Raw after Night of Champions. Shawn Michaels served as the special guest referee that night, and it was a little Sweet Chin Music against HBK’s former trainee that allowed Randy Orton to be the WWE Champion and the “Face of the Company” once more.

Eight days later I hosted an episode of The Greg DeMarco Show, and welcomed Texas-based independent star Jack Jameson long into hour two. Jameson, like many independent talents, closely followed the WWE product alongside his own travels. We discussed the state of the WWE Championship and the company’s handling of Daniel Bryan, and Jack made one promise: this would all culminate at WrestleMania XXX, with Daniel Bryan winning back what was rightfully his—the WWE Championship.

The events that followed the Royal Rumble included Triple H mocking the fans for their reaction to Batista winning the Royal Rumble and Daniel Bryan’s exclusion from the Rumble itself. Daniel Bryan was later defeated in the Elimination Chamber match thanks to Kane and Triple H.

Two weeks later, Bryan held Raw hostage, filling the ring and ringside area with over 100 fans as part of the “Yes! Movement,” convincing Triple H to grant him a match at WrestleMania XXX against the storyline COO himself, a match that if Bryan won would see him added to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match with champ Randy Orton and Royal Rumble winner Batista that was slated to main event the New Orleans spectacular.

Triple H would later alter the stipulation to say that the winner of Bryan-HHH would get into the WrestleMania main event. That change wouldn’t matter as Bryan pinned Triple H, went on to the ‘Mania main event and captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by making Batista tap out to the Yes Lock.

WrestleMania XXX ended with Daniel Bryan holding the WWE’s two world titles and celebrating with 75,167 of his closest personal friends.

Just like Jack Jameson said would happen…five months prior on The Greg DeMarco Show.

Many of you want to believe that Daniel Bryan’s rise to the WrestleMania XXX main event was organic—and in many ways it was. But it was not due to the negative reaction to Batista’s return and Royal Rumble win. It wasn’t because of CM Punk walking out on the WWE the night after the Royal Rumble.

Daniel Bryan’s rise to the WrestleMania XXX main event organically started at WrestleMania 28, where Bryan was defeated by Sheamus in 18-seconds to lose his World Heavyweight Championship in the night’s opening contest. The Miami crowd voiced their opinion, chanting “YES! YES! YES!” in support of their chosen champion, a night that lead to “YES!” chants all over the world.

Bryan was then given a small “WrestleMania Moment” the following year at Met Life Stadium when he and Kane, dubbed as Team Hell No, defeated Dolph Ziggler and Big E to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships before celebrating amongst a deafening sea of “YES!” chants much to the delight of nearly all 80,676 fans in attendance.

In August, the WWE built a John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan main event for SummerSlam, with Cena’s WWE Championship on the line. It was Bryan’s clean win over Cena and Randy Orton’s subsequent Money In The Bank cash-in that set the wheels in motion for WrestleMania XXX. For eight months the number one focus on the company was the WrestleMania XXX build.

And when the payoff happened it was all worth it.

Daniel Bryan overcame unsurmountable odds, defeating all three members of the legendary Evolution stable in one night to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The ultimate underdog prevailed, the good guy won in the end, and the WWE fan base had their new hero.

Bryan was soon forced to miss an episode of Raw due to the death of his father, along with his wedding and honeymoon with Brie Bella. Bryan would defeat Kane at Extreme Rules, but the damage done to his shoulder would eventually sideline him, and cost him the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Nine months of storytelling was lost when Bryan lost the title without actually losing a match, a difficult decision that later led to John Cena winning the title(s) for the 15th time in his career at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view event.

On August 17, Brock Lesnar—the Paul Heyman led charge who had recently ended The Undertaker’s WrestleMania win Streak—challenged John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, subjecting the champion to the beating of a lifetime and ultimately walking out of Los Angeles’ Staples Center as the company’s top dog.

What if Daniel Bryan wasn’t injured and wasn’t stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship? What does it mean for the events leading up to and at SummerSlam? I’ve worked the progression backwards from SummerSlam and have a pretty good idea of how this all goes down.

Payback
Payback saw Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista put over The Shield in a No Holds Barred six-man elimination style main event that was swept by Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. The WWE World Heavyweight Champion was nowhere to be found, and he wasn’t signed to defend his belt that night.

Had Bryan been present on the card, we were likely to see the culmination of his feud with Kane, where he would once again defeat the Big Red Machine and retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Money In The Bank
MITB2014 saw now-former Shield member Seth Rollins win the Money In The Bank briefcase and John Cena win the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, both in Money In The Bank ladder matches. Cena’s win was of course for the vacated championship because the injury to Daniel Bryan “forced” The Authority to strip Bryan of his championship.

Removing the injury from history, the most likely opponent for Daniel Bryan was Randy Orton, utilizing his rematch clause after his WrestleMania XXX defeat—where he wasn’t involved in the fall. This rematch is still brought up today, and Orton has yet to get a one-on-one title opportunity since ‘Mania. John Cena’s involvement

Battleground
John Cena defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal 4-Way match against Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Kane at the Tampa-based pay-per-view event, retaining his championship. Had Bryan been champion at Batteground he was likely defending in a similar multi-man match. Other options included another rematch for Randy Orton, or my personal favorite dark horse candidate: Bryan’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship defense against Chris Jericho. Bryan’s 2010 NXT televised debut was against then World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho in a match that Bryan get a surprising amount of offense before losing to the then champion.

SummerSlam
We all know what happened at SummerSlam: Brock Lesnar destroyed John Cena in one of the most IWC friendly squash matches in recent memory to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the same card, Brie Bella fought Stephanie McMahon in a match that was Nikki Bella turn heel against her sister, allowing Stephanie to win.

I’ve had multiple people try to tell me everything from Daniel Bryan having a much more competitive match against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam to Bryan actually beating the Beast Incarnate at the Staples Center. That’s laughable at best and downright delusional at worst. Brock Lesnar ended The Undertaker’s Streak at WrestleMania XXX, something so unique and rare that it can truly never happen again. Anything short of continued wins for Lesnar against top competition would be viewed as a waste of The Streak—not just in the eyes of the fans but in the eyes of both Vince McMahon and Triple H, two men who played huge roles in The Streak, either in the ring, behind the scenes or both.

Despite all of the guess work that I had to put into Payback, Money In The Bank and Battleground, one conclusion was very easy to form: had he not been injured and storyline-stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Daniel Bryan was getting his ass whooped at SummerSlam! The wave of success and fan support for the underdog-superstar would come crashing down at the hands of The Conqueror, The Beast Incarnate, Paul Heyman’s Client Who Ended The Undertaker’s Undefeated Streak At WrestleMania XXX, Brock Lesnar!

It’s time to face facts—that was happening people. Had it not been for injury, Daniel Bryan was going to get destroyed at SummerSlam, and lose his WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Brock Lesnar. And there wasn’t going to be any Rocky ending. Bryan wasn’t going to rise once more at WrestleMania, this time at the 31st incarnation of the event in Santa Clara, California. No, that spot was and is going to Roman Reigns, the one anointed next Next Big Thing, the Future Face of the WWE. And despite Reigns’ current injury, that outcome is still happening.

Daniel Bryan will return from his injury, and he’ll return to a prominent position on the WWE roster. He might even get another crack at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. But injury to Daniel Bryan or not, we were always going to be exactly where we are today, with Brock Lesnar holding the top title in all of wrestling after a dominating victory at SummerSlam.

Greg DeMarco is a wrestling fan of over 30 years and has also worked on the independent circuit as a promoter, announcer, character and booker. Greg a weekly contributor at 411Mania.com, applying his opinionated style to the world of pro wrestling on Sundays and Thursdays.

He began writing for 411Mania in October 2010 and has been pissing readers off ever since!

Greg’s latest series of must read articles at 411Mania.com:
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