The WWE has always had a thing for making us accept what they wanted the average fan to accept. Unfortunately, what they believe to be compelling television, I look at as boring, unacceptible and in some cases, downright stupid.
Case in point, Daniel Bryan's ascension to the top of the foodchain, only to be relegated back to midcard status when the fans WANT Bryan at the top of the card. There has been NO payoff to Bryan beating Randy Orton on multiple occasions, and at the same time, throwing him in with "Big Bad" Bray Wyatt and the beard committee is just deplorable to his character.
Sure, someone in the WWE will tell us that they believe this is what will finally push him over the top in popularity, because he will continue to be pushed down by the one man in the WWE with a bigger beard than his, until he finally snaps, shows off a talented array of moves and has the crowd once again chanting, "Yes Yes Yes!" but I for one think he is already there, and as such, should have been given the cart blanche and been allowed to ride it like Steve Austin did in the mid-90's.
That isn't what they wanted to give us though. They believe they know what we want, more than what we tell them we want. By this point, in the Attitude Era, Steve Austin would have looked HHH and Stephanie in their face, told them that he is the "Superstar of the Year," and when they weren't looking, blasted them both with a knockout blow, and hit them with a stunner each, for good measure. When they'd get up, he'd stomp a mud hole in them, drink a beer and give a late Christmas present of ANOTHER stunner to each. He wouldn't get looked at as a heel, he'd look like the anti-hero...the guy we never wanted, but the guy that came at the right time to instill life into a boring product.
With Bryan, he could stomp on HHH's foot, kick him in the face and the place would explode. IF HHH didn't sell the first one, he could throw him into the YES lock and really show him who was boss, especially if a crying Stephanie attempted to break the hold and couldn't get him off her husband. But no, we have to settle for him turning his back on the fans that showed him the respect his characterisation deserved, and all because the ego of Vince and his family will not allow US to dictate what WE WANT.
Sure, they hit a home run earlier in the program with the return of Brock Lesnar, except even that made a regular GOOD worker look weak to a part-timer in hopes that either Batista or the Undertaker will say that he has to get in line and have a showdown at Wrestlemania. Brock also saying that he doesn't have to win the Royal Rumble to be the #1 contender also makes the winner of the Rumble look weak in comparison. If he can just throw that out there, why can't anyone? Seems legit.
The frustrating thing about all of this is that from Money in the Bank through SummerSlam, WWE looked like it finally understood. The rumors of Dutch Mantel and Paul Heyman writing the program seemed REAL, and seemed to push what we wanted to see, rather than force feeding us Big Show in a spot he hadn't earned in the people's eyes. By the time Survivor Series was over, we saw that go over like a fart in church, and they scrambled lost their way again.
Could I write a better program? Yeah, honestly, I could. I know they work hard, week in and week out, coming up with 6 or so hours of compelling television, but with them, they are so flippy-floppy (HHH's term) on what they are trying to accomplish, that it just leaves me yearning the days when the writers were IN SYNC with the audience, and Daniel Bryan would be not only the SuperStar of the year, but getting the respect he deserves.
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