10 Wrestlers Who Gambled On A New Catchphrase
8. Daniel Bryan Enters Opposite Land
Daniel Bryan's "Yes!" chant was itself a gamble, because Bryan, the carefree genius who WWE should tie down to a lifetime deal in an influential Producer role, just up and did it on a forgiveness-later basis.
He didn't care. He just wanted to amuse himself under the expectation that the fans would find it entertaining, and they did. The bit was priceless; inspired by Diego Sanchez's UFC psych-up routine, Bryan as a chicken-sh*t cash-in World Heavyweight Champion believed himself to be an Olympian gold medal winner by histrionically celebrating himself while making his ring entrance. This got him over as a babyface because it was such a farcical riot, but WWE didn't see it in him at first, because of course they didn't, and so Bryan with the most brunt and hilarious of tweaks started saying "No!" when fans played along. It was all so gloriously dumb, but good dumb; the fury in him, and the specificity of this weird behaviour, was not unlike that of a legendary recurring, apoplectic Seinfeld character. It was a fairly obvious manoeuvre, but the premise on paper is outrageous.
Bryan changed his catchphrase from "Yes!" to "No!".
Was it successful?
Fans still chant "No!" when something boring or crushing is teased. Bryan's work has entered the lexicon of WWE.