10 Times Long-Term WWE Booking Paid Off

Now, let's be clear about this. As far as we know, the original plan was to have Batista face Randy Orton one-on-one in WrestleMania XXX's main event, and the last minute addition of Daniel Bryan was just that: last minute.

But there's no denying that the booking of Daniel Bryan in his first few years on the roster - during which he suffered more setbacks than a Tory election campaign - helped endear him to the WWE audience. Everyone loves an underdog.

And the fact that fans were so dead-set on seeing one man get his moment in the sun was testament, fore-mostly to D-Bry's own Stone Cold-like ability to connect with them, but also to the long-term star-making strategy the writers stumbled on (albeit possibly by accident).