6 Reasons Daniel Bryan's Retirement Will Hurt WWE In The Long Run
3. There Will Probably Never Be A More Organic Fan Favourite Again
WWE enjoys telling the fans who they should cheer and who they should boo. Certainly since the Ruthless Aggression era, WWE writers have become outstandingly lazy with their concepts of who should be a good guy and who should be a bad guy. Take for example; the golden goose of the company John Cena. Initially a bad guy who fans liked so much that WWE decided that he should be a good guy and in turn, was rammed down our throats to the point where fan reactions became so polarised, it's been worked into his gimmick. Similarly, WWE's new golden boy, Roman Reigns. A decent enough powerhouse guy who became the most popular member of The Shield and was similarly rammed down our throats as the new face of the company that fans are just as polarised. Now take Daniel Bryan's career trajectory; a clean cut babyface who earned a shot at a championship, slowly turned heel during his run as champion, and engaged the fans in such a way that he did the full 360 and became a face again. Did WWE thrust him straight into the title picture as a babyface? No, they allowed him to develop in probably the best tag team in years with Kane and garner even more adoration from the fans, before finally letting him loose on the main event picture. The YES movement was something unlike anything anybody had ever seen; never before had fan support been so fervent that Vince McMahon was forced to change the main event of his biggest pay per view of the year to satisfy the masses. It's highly doubtful that such a level will ever be reached again, and the key to it all was allowing his character to develop and resonate with the people who matter the most; the people who pay for the tickets, and tune in every week. Despite all their drawbacks to their mistreatment of Daniel Bryan, WWE DID allow plenty of time for his character to become so synonymous with the fans that they simply had to allow him a main even run. Fan support on the same level could arguably never reach the same zenith it reached in early 2014 ever again.
