I rarely watch RAW live, because I’m a bad wrestling fan, and I prefer to watch RAW after it’s been DVR’d, so that I can skip the 64 minutes worth of commercials during the three-hour program, most of which are conveniently tucked in the middle of matches. I’ve become quite the expert at anticipating when they’ll happen based on Michael Cole’s choice of words, when someone conveniently gets thrown out of the ring, and that it’s usually seven clicks of the 30 seconds ahead before I’m right back into the action where the heel is almost undoubtedly in control of the match when TV resumes. It’s also handy for skipping matches from untalented, formulaic, or just plain boring wrestlers like Santino Marella, the Great Khali and Randy Orton, and the seemingly weekly/monthly Alberto del Rio versus Sin Cara/Hunico-in-a-mask match.
Needless to say, I do a boatload of skipping when I do watch RAW, because I’m a bad wrestling fan apparently.
However, one thing I didn’t skip was the conclusion of this past Monday’s RAW, because it probably was the coolest thing I’ve seen in a little while. To no surprise, it involved Daniel Bryan, who was recently turned into Daniel Wyatt, joining the nefarious Bray Wyatt and his “family.” Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the storyline, because the kid at heart always wants the good guys to ultimately defeat their tormentors, but I’m old enough now to be able to rationalize why things are done.
I figured with the recent returns of likely rental wrestlers like Dave Batista and Brock Lesnar, a legitimate asset like Daniel Bryan would need to be protected of being put in the squash crosshairs of the behemoths; turning him heel would be a safe way to do it, to where he could be dastardly and canned heat with the Wyatts while the flavors of the month ran their course, and when they lost their smiles and departed again, a cliche storyline could show up with Bryan’s real-life fiancee, Brie Bella, where Bryan could conflictingly come to his senses, play the heroic white-knight that never gets old, and be right back in his position as the most popular superstar in the WWE without having to get squashed by Batista or Lesnar.
In a metaphoric sense, I stated that Daniel Bryan’s tenure as Daniel Wyatt “would last as long as Bret Hart in the nWo;” which was all of like 2-3 weeks in 2000, because World Championship Wrestling was amidst a corporate downward spiral, and they were hitting creative panic buttons left and right, with zero sense of repercussion, continuity and storytelling.
However, when I said that, I meant that I thought Daniel Bryan would be Daniel Wyatt for more like 2-3 months, which is about a short time for a storyline, but long enough to where the creative team could say they still gave it the ‘ol college try.
Turns out I was more on the money than I thought I would be, when two weeks after Daniel Bryan became Daniel Wyatt, he turned on the patriarch and turned right back into Daniel Bryan again.
This, is a new experience for me, because I’ve never seen the WWE turn on a storyline this quickly, like ever. Logically it makes sense, if anyone’s been following the men’s soap opera, since this turned out to be an elaborate plan for Bryan to get Wyatt alone 1-on-1 without Harper and Rowen interfering, but still, two weeks.
Regardless, the kid in me loves the quick reset button. Daniel Bryan the super babyface is/was the best thing in WWE, and it appears to be headed for another year full of YES chants and great Daniel Bryan matches. And the crowd reaction when they realized what was going on was absolutely bonkers, and more than a great match, I love to see when the crowd is as into it as the performers are. Obviously, we’ve seen plenty of great YES crowds throughout the last year, but this past Monday’s crowd was easily one of the best ever.
