Daniel Bryan's First Clean Loss: Is His WWE Return Already Ruined?
First major setback since March return, but is Bryan yet again fighting a much bigger losing battle?
Former WWE Champion and hero to millions Daniel Bryan was pinned clean as a sheet on Tuesday's SmackDown Live!, less than two months after his impossible dream was fought for and attained in a remarkable WrestleMania return at the very same location he ascended to the top of the industry.
The loss robbed him of a Money In The Bank ladder match spot and wasn't without context - the 'Yes Man' was selling damage done to him by Big Cass in a Backlash post-match attack - but the rather cynical gamesmanship from WWE to award it to Rusev suggested they too expected a blowback from their browbeaten audience.
'The Bulgarian Brute' was an on-the-night beneficiary for sure, but enthusiasm for his own organic uprising has been willfully suppressed by WWE over the past several months. Comparisons between the two were quickly made when 'Rusev Day' chants began overwhelming events and drowning out company pet projects as Bryan's monosyllabic mantra had years earlier. But the 'WWE Universe' is a one far better served now than it was then.
The growth of NXT, influx of talent from NJPW, Impact, ROH et al. and a broader shift towards a style preferred by the dreaded 'smart mark' middle ground has given crowds less reasons to organise, galvanise and tackle the machine again. Even a collective loathing of Roman Reigns has only resulted in fans bailing early to beat the traffic at B-shows after an attempt to trash the WrestleMania topliner between 'The Big Dog' and Brock Lesnar only resulted in Roman's bloody end almost passing without notice.
Has the company's ability to stub out the purity of 'Rusev Day' rubbed off on the loudest corners of the 'Yes Movement' in the afterglow of Bryan's return? New Orleans might have given Daniel his best moment but it's also been the city to take more than it gives - The Undertaker and Asuka's record-breaking undefeated streaks faced unassailable hardships in 'The Big Easy'. Like those, Bryan had to eventually lose too but does this defeat at this moment reflect a wider uncomfortable truth about his return?