Even a couple days removed from this past Monday Night Raw, it’s hard to write a wrestling column without talking about the boisterous ending when Daniel Bryan seemed like he had the entire state of Rhode Island in the palm of his hand. And it’s for good reason because this was probably the payoff WWE was hoping for in this entire Daniel Bryan story. Was this the way the Bryan/Wyatts story was suppose to end up or was this WWE bailing on the story and hoping the crowd reacts to Bryan turning on Wyatts? I don’t know but part of me wants to believe this was the way it was suppose to go down just because there have been so many things that were not working at all but WWE stuck with them for months (aka the latest edition of Cena vs Orton). Of course, that’s incredibly naive of me to assume that because, as we all know, if WWE was given the choice to bail on a Cena or Orton story (let alone a story that involved BOTH of them) or being chained to a sinking ship, WWE would get some goggles and start holding their collective breath.
Truly it might be a bit too soon to come to these assumptions, especially when we have a whole other Raw to get through before we reach Royal Rumble. Honestly, I would’ve been happier had this Bryan thing happened on the go-home Raw and let that final image of him atop the cage with the crowd going crazy send everyone home in a frenzy to order the Rumble…not that Royal Rumble really needs that much build to get people to buy it. Even when we all knew Cena was gonna win, we still tuned in and enjoyed the pants off the rumble match. Ending the go-home like that would probably cement a Daniel Bryan victory for the rumble match, in my estimation.
But then again, maybe it was good that Bryan dumped the Wyatts when he did because you never really know what kind of crowd you’re going to get. Don’t get me wrong, Bryan deserves to get a thunderous ovation regardless of where he is but we’ve all experienced crappy crowds (which Providence kinda was before THE big moment at the end). But we have what we have and one can only assume that we’ll get some sort of explanation next Monday night. Personally, I’m hoping for more of the cerebral explanation that it was all part of a plan to somehow get Bryan alone in a locked cage with Bray. However, that would also suggest that Kane might have been a part of this plan which does makes sense considering his history with both Bryan and the Wyatts but I’m not so sure they want to drop Kane’s newly-formed heel persona just yet.
Hopefully the explanation doesn’t involve anything with Bryan somehow was brainwashed by Bray Wyatt but was ultimately saved by the cheers of the fans, we don’t need another one of those types of faces. Yes, that does sounds incredibly lame but you can’t look me in the eyes and tell me that you haven’t thought the same and the fear of it lurks in the back corner of your mind as it does mine.
Getting lost in the shuffle of all this is Usos picking up the win in a big main event slot because I honestly can’t remember the last time there’s been a match like that with a cage the end Raw. They just had the misfortune of being followed by a huge moment with the biggest fan-favorite in the business right now. But truthfully, Usos were sort of the MacGuffin of this story because, honestly, WWE just needed the Wyatts to face ANY team that’ll lead to Bray and Bryan inside the cage that wouldn’t overshadow the final moment. I’m not saying I feel bad for them because they did get the win and they did get some great spots that will certainly lead to championship opportunities down the road. However, this moment belong to Bryan and (to a much lesser extent) Bray.
And there’s the concern that this will lead to a Daniel Bryan vs Bray Wyatt match at Rumble instead of having both men in the Rumble itself. Even if both men pulled double-duty in the match, I don’t seem to remember anyone winning the Rumble after being in an earlier match but I could be mistaken. Personally, I really think it’s going to be Punk or Bryan winning the championship because it feels right for either person and just seems like something that should be on both their resumes anyway. Of course one of the big favorites to win will be the returning Batista but correct me if I’m mistaken, wasn’t it announced that Batista would be one of the first to start the match? I honestly could’ve dreamed that up since I’m not coming up with anything when I searched for it just now. Still, I still don’t feel like the animal will win but only because, for lack of a better argument, it simply doesn’t feel right for right now. It’s almost HAS to be Bryan, right?
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do twice,
Chris
The Answer: Blue Jasmine was a weird movie to watch right after finishing Her. It’s like I kept waiting for Cate Blanchett’s character to be upgraded into a better OS so that she would finally start thinking logically and would have Scarlett Johansson’s voice.
