10 Major Flaws With WWE's Current Booking Methods
7. Recreating Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan was WWE's last major babyface success story, but his triumphs came in spite of the company's actions, not because of them. The Yes! Movement was spawned from the promotion's perceived mistreatment of the crowd's favourite underdog. Several years of burials and mis-bookings created an immense groundswell of support, and the night Bryan finally smashed through these barriers at WrestleMania XXX created one of the most euphoric moments the sport has ever seen.
WWE recognise this, and have since tried to recreate it with a number of other wrestlers. They appear to think that if they book their babyfaces in losing positions for months on end, it'll create a similar situation to The Yes! Movement, and in the end, they'll have created they rightful air to Bryan's throne.
This isn't working. Such an organic success story can't be replicated in a creative meeting, and by constantly booking similar characters like Sami Zayn and Bayley to lose, they've only succeeded in making them look out of their depth. They're diminishing these performers' popularity, not enhancing it, and have worn out two potentially valuable babyface commodities as a result.