7 Reasons Daniel Bryan Is The Most Important Wrestler Of This Generation

6. He Showed The Importance Of The Audience

Despite the cynical eyes that non-fans view wrestling through, it is objectively a form of performance art. Professional wrestling is story told through competition, and these stories are told in front of a live audience. Not a live studio audience, conditioned to sit in silence and laugh on cue. A professional wrestling audience, more so than any other audience of a form of performance art, enters an area, sits down on their chairs and is free to do whatever they want, be that shout, scream, chant or sit in complete silence. More so than in any other wrestling promotion, the role of the audience in WWE is extremely confused. On one hand, performers constantly refer to doing this for them, of how much it means to them to entertain the fans. Promos are bookended by asking questions of the audience, heels taunt the crowd when in control and faces direct their energetic fire towards them. At the same time, the WWE Universe is conditioned to believe that their opinion is meaningless. John Cena is going to be on top as a good guy, regardless of the response of half of the audience. Don't think Roman Reigns is ready to be the main man? Shut up and watch it. The audience can chant for CM Punk all they want, they are still getting Big Show vs. Ryback. As he traversed the choppy seas of his story arc in late 2013, Daniel Bryan was propelled forward by a crowd reaction the likes of which hadn't been seen in WWE for a long, long time. We'll never know if it was a work or a shoot, but the story to this day stands that if it wasn't for the sheer insistence of the audience, the WrestleMania XXX main event would have been Batista vs. Randy Orton. Daniel Bryan showed that in this age of spoon-fed professional wrestling, the audience still had (and has) a voice.