10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Daniel Bryan

4. The Yes Chant Was Done As A Heel To Anger The Fans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZevSrKZ4ECo "I think he's celebrating a bit too much, don't you?" - Michael Cole. The way WWE talks about the "Yes" chant these days would make you think that the fans have always rallied behind Daniel Bryan, but that really wasn't the case. When Bryan was the World Champion in late 2011, he started doing the "Yes" celebration as a way to make the fans upset. He did it as this cocky guy that was out there celebrating his own greatness. He has said many times that it was something he saw UFC fighter Diego Sanchez doing. It wasn't done to encourage the fans to chant it to support Bryan. That just happened naturally. Things started to change around the time of WrestleMania 28. I was at that show in Miami and you could see how popular Bryan was becoming as the heel World Champion that had a girlfriend like AJ Lee that told him she loved him while he would just act like a jerk to her. Fans didn't want to boo Bryan. A lot of people that go to WrestleMania are considered the "smart" fans that like those guys that are great in the ring whether they are heel or face. As Bryan walked to the ring at WrestleMania 28, the entire stadium in Miami was chanting "YES" for him. When he lost the World Title in 18 seconds to Sheamus it pissed everybody off. That didn't hurt Bryan too much, though. The next night on Raw he came across as the biggest star of the show because the crowd was chanting "YES" all night long. Later in 2012 he ended up becoming a babyface thanks to the tag team with Kane and that's when the "Yes" phrase became as popular as ever. In a lot of ways, the "Yes" chant is similar to how Steve Austin's "What?" line started in 2001. When Austin started doing that, he was an annoying heel that did it to mess with the minds of other wrestlers as well as the fans. Once he turned face, fans started chanting it. They still chant "What" just like the "Yes" chant will likely live on even when Bryan is done wrestling too. Wrestling fans are pretty easy to please. Just give them a common word to chant and they might chant along with it as long as it's the right person that starts it.