A shoot that became a work, yet even when it was a shoot, WWE were still pushing Daniel Bryan as a top, top star. If you take a look at his career, Bryan has actually been a WWE upper mid-carder for the majority of it. He's hardly been mistreated by WWE - they'd featured him in numerous pay per view main events and made him a World Champion long before 2014. You might've believed he was an underdog, but so many guys would've killed for his position over the last four years. Your perception of him as a skilled and plucky underdog is simply because WWE portrayed him as that on television for a long period of time. Many fans became a mark for Bryan's character, when really, it was all just a construct of WWE storytelling. Even before Royal Rumble 2014, the company were actively encouraging the Yes Movement. Fans believed the WWE were genuinely holding the star back, when in fact the strategy was to further his sympathetic babyface appeal. Yes, they did overlook him at the Rumble, but everything they were doing was in their minds for Bryan's best interests. Do you actually believe they'd try to diminish a drawing star? WWE were a massive factor in Bryan's success. If you believed it was really the 'Yes Movement', then you got worked. The fan surge helped him, but it was WWE who made Daniel Bryan into a star.
