Why Daniel Bryan Vs. The Miz Is ALREADY Such A Disappointment
In parallel, admittedly not helped by the launch of the Miz & Mrs reality show, Miz hasn’t been booked in such a way that really justifies his supposed superiority. He’s no longer the Intercontinental Champion, the prize with which he projected himself as a credible star. Since moving to SmackDown, he has won precisely one televised singles match, against Big E, all the way back on May 22. WWE has simply waited. Waiting isn’t what we should do. It’s what WWE does instead of absorbing storytelling.
The programme is symptomatic of the entire, sh*tty product. WWE is acutely, depressingly aware of what they can get away with. Last year’s Roman Reigns Vs. John Cena programme was billed as a WrestleMania main event presented outside of WrestleMania season. “We usually don’t bother at this time of year, go us!” was the sobering subtext.
The “just wait” argument is infuriating because it indicates that an impatient or insatiable fanbase is the problem. It’s the same argument we hear when fans were admonished for, say, hijacking and disrespecting the Iron Man match between Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler. The airport; the bus stop; the doctor’s office: waiting breeds irritation. It’s honestly no wonder that the fans reacted in the manner they did; they were made to wait for something good, and simply acted out their frustrations.
Back to the The Miz Vs. Daniel Bryan, with an even more graceless segue than WWE managed.
Say The Miz wins what, inevitably, will not be the first match. He’ll have only beaten a man he has justifiably written off as an also-ran. Say, conversely, Bryan defeats Miz cleanly. He will have defeated his most fascinating, logical, career antagonist having wandered aimlessly around the midcard and taken a loss to the Bludgeon Brothers in a match in which his partner was an injured part-timer. The Miz does not enter SummerSlam as a man dripping in even the sort of misplaced arrogance that demands and invites the promised punch to the face. Bryan does not enter the Barclays Center as a white hot act with one last, deeply personal grudge to settle. It won't feel like a richly-deserved triumph with years of history informing and elevating it.
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