WWE Trades Ruthless Aggression For PG | Wrestling Timelines
September 3, 2012 | Team Hell No
WWE gets it. WWE develops an act that is liquid PG: the tag team appeals to children but is so well-performed and genuinely funny that the parents who bring the kids along to the shows can get behind them as well. It is hilarious, wholesome, and heartwarming.
Team Hell No is Daniel Bryan and Kane perfecting the signature, squabbling WWE strange bedfellows trope. Bryan is a wrestling genius playing a sort of perpetually enraged Seinfeld guest character; Kane, a human demon from hell, is inexplicably and perfectly cast as the rational straight man. The premise is brilliantly absurd and the chemistry is irresistible. In their best moment together, they are ordered to attend therapy to work through their differences. In a great gag, therapist Dr. Shelby’s son is proudly wearing a goat mask, overjoyed at being cast in his school play. Bryan, referred to as “goat face” on WWE TV, throws a conniption fit in his crying face. Kane and Bryan bond over their love of fury, and subsequently become an enraged, chair-wielding pair of family-friendly babyfaces.
Great as it is, this should be the launch of Daniel Bryan as a legitimate babyface megastar, and it sort of is. Bryan - a hard-working role model who had no right to succeed, a great inspirational arc for kids - becomes the fan’s choice. John Cena grants him a match at SummerSlam 2013 on this basis, and does an ultra-rare clean job. Immediately afterwards, a new stable led by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, the Authority, is formed to thwart Bryan’s ascent. This is woefully derivative, but has potential - that is, until WWE actually decides mid-storyline that Bryan is in fact a “B+ player” and relegates him to the midcard. Dave Meltzer reports that WWE did actually hold plans to push Bryan to a permanent main event position - a storyline accelerated by the very real threat of a walkout undermining the planned Randy Orton Vs. Batista main event at WrestleMania 30 - but how seriously can you take this report?
Bryan wins the Undisputed WWE title in New Orleans, but even if he does not get injured subsequently, Vince McMahon has already decided on John Cena’s replacement: Roman Reigns…