As of Monday, June 9th, the "Yes" movement effectlvely died when Stephanie McMahon said "NO" to the hopes, dreams and aspirations of WWE fans everywhere when she stripped Daniel Bryan of the WWE World Heavyweight Champioship. What was a year-long story that galvanized the WWE Universe in a manner that hadn't been seen since CM Punk's summer-long storyline surrounding the WWE Championship three years prior ended after 64 days with a whimper, Bryan not even in the building to surrender his championship gold. In 64 days, though, a great deal occurred that ultimately killed his championship reign. While yes, it may be possible that WWE sees Bryan as a better opponent chasing the title than actually holding the championships, the time in which he spent actually holding the championships could have been much more entertaining. Here are the ten moments that actually weren't that entertaining at all.
10. "B+ Player"
Throughout the past 12 months, The Authority did an amazing job of getting over the corporate double-speak of being a "B+ player." In being a very good, but not great (read: Grade "A") player, Daniel Bryan was thus unfit to hold the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In the 50-plus years that the WWE Universe has existed, it's entirely plausible that 90% of the time, in long-term storylines, the good guy has eventually prevailed. However, in the case of the Daniel Bryan story, the good guy absolutely didn't win. The minute that Stephanie McMahon uttered the phrase "B+ player" again, every Daniel Bryan fan in the world should have been concerned about their hero and his championship reign. When Jason gets to wake up during the horror movie's credits and cleave off the hero's head, that's just not a fun ending at all. "B+ player?" All Stephanie was missing was the hockey mask.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
