10 Wrestlers BANNED From Getting Over

7. WWE Killed Daniel Bryan: Planet's Champion

Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

Daniel Bryan: Planet's Champion was such an incredible act. It seems impossible that the WWE of 2018/9 allowed him to run with it. This isn't "AEW shill" "bias": Raw was so bad that the McMahons apologised for how bad it was!

Does Vince McMahon need to touch grass? Is Vince McMahon on the AEW payroll? Is Vince McMahon exhibiting "bitchless behaviour"?

And yet, over on SmackDown, Bryan was on outstanding form. He rediscovered his inner technical sadist, using his leverage as top WWE star not to demand a lighter schedule or refuse jobs but to work a stunningly intricate series of awesome matches. He also adopted a new, ultra-sanctimonious character that pinpointed everything that the average American would hate to hear about themselves. They were greedy animal-killing scum destroying a planet more beautiful than their closed minds could ever hope to be.

The man was detestable, and brilliantly effective, and WWE put an end to it after he used his star power to elevate Kofi Kingston. When Bryan returned after WrestleMania 35, he was a mean and somewhat generic heel, and by the summer, he was attempting to murder Roman Reigns and hiring doppelgängers of Erick Rowan for an alibi.

When discussing with Sports Illustrated his thoughts on the creative process, and how he was guided into not losing focus of building storylines, Bryan let slip "Eventually, I wasn’t allowed to say anything about the environment at all."

Thanks lads!

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!