This is how wrestling should work. Promotions should
listen to crowd reactions for their stars and place them in positions of
prominence accordingly. If someone provokes a strong reaction they should
logically be given more to do because the reaction indicates that audiences are
willing to pay to see them.
What’s more WWE, and other promotions, should be seeking
this sort of reaction. It demonstrates that the audience is passionate about a
performer. That’s exactly what any wrestling promotion should be after. Whether
they act on the reactions is something else entirely. Obviously they should
because the audience are making it clear with these outbursts who they desire
to see moved into positions of prominence. But even if they take the poor
decision to ignore the reactions they’re still desirable, because of the
passion.
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| Another day another picture of Daniel Bryan on this blog |
The reason this is considered a topic is of course because
of the recent events involving Daniel Bryan. Crowds have been chanting for him
during matches and segments that don’t involve him for the last month or two as
a way of letting WWE know that they support the guy and feel he deserves to be
used more prominently. Royal Rumble was hit particularly badly. The WWE
championship match between Randy Orton and John Cena played to silence and
smattering of boos while the Rumble match itself was met with outright
hostility once all thirty entrants had been announced and Bryan wasn’t among
them.
A fair question is: what do these fans actually want WWE
to do with Bryan? He’s already wrestling in lengthy matches every week, which
is by far the best use of him. He’s getting involved in talking segments but
having his part kept to a minimum. Anyone who wants him doing more talking is
being ridiculous. D-Bry’s promos have improved a lot over the years and he’s
now above average but I don’t think he’s on the Austin, Hogan, Punk, Cena and
Triple H level of being able to guide an audience through a lengthy promo that
keeps them interested, explains plots and sets up matches. Besides, what’s he
going to say if he gets more mic time? Part of his appeal is that he initiates
monosyllabic chants. I think a lot of people want him to be given the world title.
The reasoning behind this wish is almost certainly that a lengthy title reign,
taking in WrestleMania, will be an acknowledgement from WWE that Bryan is
capable of leading the company forward.
So really WWE bosses created this rod for their own backs
when they decided to do a months-long storyline in which The Authority stated
that Bryan is not worthy of being ‘The Man’. They have nobody to blame but
themselves.
WWE’s way of combatting this so far has been a
combination of ignoring and denying these outbursts. Some people have suggested
they’re going out of their way to script deliberately ponderous and unexciting
episodes of RAW as a way of burning out crowds. It’s certainly plausible, with
recent episodes having been, well, unexciting and ponderous. I don’t think it’s
what’s happening though.
Ignoring the reactions will only suffice for so long. WWE
will need to either figure out a way to stop the chants or give the people what
they want by WrestleMania. That’s their flagship show, the one they want to be
as great and remarkable as it can be every year. They won’t want people booing
their main event or chanting for someone who’s not involved. As I can’t think
of any way to stop the reactions the only option left to WWE is to give people
what they want: more Daniel Bryan.
There are worse things to do than give your customers
what they want. But that’s not how WWE operates. As such I think we can expect
a few more weeks of hostility before they finally remedy the situation by
putting the championship on Bryan or adding him to the ‘Mania main event. Hey,
he’s in the Elimination Chamber. That’s a start.
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