10 WWE Decisions That Enraged The IWC
2. Daniel Bryan’s Exclusion From The 2014 Royal Rumble
The “Yes!” Movement was peaking in January 2014.
Famously branded a “B+ player” by Triple H, the perception was that Daniel Bryan had spent the bulk of his WWE career held down by management. This manifested as an immense groundswell of support among the fans, whose belief in Bryan only grew with every passing disappointment, making him a genuine folk hero, and comfortably the most popular wrestler in the world.
The Royal Rumble should have been his moment. Bryan lost to Bray Wyatt early in the evening, but that wouldn’t have mattered had he won the Rumble like many had expected. DB was never announced as a participant, however, and while the crowd spent much of the match chanting for him, they were left disappointed. All 30 entrants came and went. Bryan was nowhere to be found.
Batista emerged as a universally rejected winner, and fans were incensed at Bryan’s exclusion. The backlash stretched as far as Mick Foley, who asked “does WWE actually hate their own audience? I’ve never been so disgusted with a PPV” in a tweet he has since deleted, before taking the argument to Facebook.
His voice was just one of thousands, however, and the IWC was ablaze with fury over the ensuing weeks.