The REAL Reason Daniel Bryan Just Won The WWE Title

by Michael Hamflett
Daniel Bryan AJ Styles
WWE

Daniel Bryan is WWE Champion. Becky Lynch is WWE Women's Champion. These were the two hottest babyfaces on the show, but have ascended as heels because in The Banter Era, babyfaces are little more than spineless fodder. Everything Ronda Rousey was scripted to say about the "millennial men" on Monday Night Raw is exactly how Vince McMahon views most of his roster in 2018.

Spilling avocado on his v-neck jumper before embracing the crowd wasn't going to win Daniel Bryan the WWE Championship, but him "snapping" under an as-yet-undiscussed pressure makes plenty of sense to The Chairman. Becky Lynch overcoming her underdog status no longer reflects the billionaire life of McMahon, but raising her chin higher than The Big Show's beard as she walks to the ring is a lifestyle flex he lives on a daily basis.

Becky Lynch's gimmick was more 'The Man' than babyface Bryan ever was in the eyes of his boss, and yet he sits at the company summit at the expense of a year-long 'Phenomenal' placeholder days away from one of the biggest shows of the year.

It's just banter, but the real reason Daniel Bryan is WWE Champion is the same reason Vince McMahon's organisation remains the industry standard all these years later. Sell tickets to refill those empty arenas, sell pay-per-views to keep Network subscriptions healthy and sell talking points to keep the commentators talking about "Worldwide Number One Trends" on Twitter.

Sell something, and ideally, sell everything. Becky Lynch sold shirts by the bucketload to prove her worth as the hottest star in the industry today. The Daniel Bryan character sold his soul to return to the top. Vince McMahon, yet again, sold us all on a brand new reason to tune into the Survivor Series.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett