It really begins at 2013's Summerslam. The now immensely popular Daniel Bryan pins Cena clean for the title but has his moment cut short by a double-crossing Triple H and a MITB cashing-in Randy Orton. At Night Of Champions he defeats Orton, regaining his title but again has his momentum stymied by Triple H - his title is stripped on RAW the following night after a closer look at the match's climax revealed a fast count from the referee Scott Armstrong. In the months that followed, with Bryan seemingly firmly in place as the most popular wrestler in WWE perhaps since Stone Cold Steve Austin he had opportunity after opportunity taken from him, televised humiliation after humiliation perpetrated on him all the while with Triple H referring to him (kayfabe) as aa "B+ player". WWE were using the perception that Vince can't stand to push the smaller guys and incorporating it into a story that seemed to be proving it true. It was a fuzzy logic at best. The desire in fans to see Bryan enter and win the Royal Rumble in January was discussed earlier, yet their flame was dampened once more. Even though Bryan was the most "over" star in years it seemed that WWE was unwilling to do much more than dangle the carrot and regularly make him look an absolute fool. It got to be too frustrating for some and many felt that giving up on WWE was the only course of action. Of course the long game came into play at the glorious celebration of Wrestlemania 30 but soon after Bryan would hand back the belt due to a legit injury. Once more he and his followers barely had the chance to revel in the glory and it now looks, with hindsight, that they just waited too long to pull the trigger on a Bryan title run.
Originally from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, now residing in East London with my wife and cat. I'm a member of Ghost Carriage Phantoms, co-owner of Marketstall Records, Editor of #flatoutfucked fanzine, a regular contributor to various music/culture websites and the co-author of a couple of scripts, mired in the endless hell of pre-production.
