10 Times WWE Had Their Head Up Their Ass

3. Burying Daniel Bryan In 2010

Vince McMahon Big Show
WWE

Signed on the recommendation of William Regal, WWE surveyed Daniel Bryan and were astonished at what they saw: a short, pale technician who didn't look like a superstar and couldn't possibly be a superstar.

Irrespective of whether or not that was true - it absolutely was not - his burial on the first season of NXT wasn't just inexplicable in isolation. WWE was only big by the standards of a shrunken industry, but the relative size of the organisation impressed itself, at least.

FCW was the Five Star Wrestling to the top end of an indie circuit that was closer to WWE in this analogy.

And yet WWE had the outrageous gall to dampen Bryan's achievements - incidentally, why in the f*ck would you do this when promoting new talent - as big nothings because he worked "high school gyms". Motherf*cker, the FCW facility had no running water in place for months. What did this malicious campaign - Bryan was variously a "deformed vegan nerd with no charisma," per Michael Cole - say about his NXT peer group? Was the audience to simply infer their automatic star power through a tanned abdominal muscle?

WWE's arrogant dismissal of the independent circuit - which they'd hypocritically change tack on a few years later - led to the state of the market today.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!