10 Wrestling Storylines That Wasted Incredible Premises

4. Daniel Bryan Vs. The Miz

HHH Adam Cole Shayna Baszler
WWE.com

The premise:

Daniel Bryan and The Miz despised one another - or did an outrageously good job of pretending to - personally and philosophically. Inextricably linked since Bryan's day one, their feud was bigger than the both of them, in a way; they each represented opposite ends of the shift that swept through WWE in the last decade. Miz was the smiling, slick telegenic company man who worked a style designed to withstand the immense demand. Bryan's pulsating artistry saw his career brought to a halt - a fact Miz later expressed with furious righteousness on a notorious 2016 edition of Talking Smack.

But then, two years later, Bryan embarked on an improbable, magic comeback. After a weird misstep of a diversion with Big Cass, it was on. Daniel Bryan Vs. The Miz: a programme so good WWE didn't even have to book it.

The waste:

Unfortunately, WWE booked it, and there was one good thing about it, one, when Miz replied with some rich visual poetry to Bryan's "Punch you in the face" threats at SummerSlam.

Elsewhere, there was some weird sh*te with a fake baby, a mixed tag that diluted the stakes, and they paid it off inside two minutes with a roll-up on a glorified house show in Australia.

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!