the rise of the beard
part 2: mania heartache
by kevin addison
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/2/5/26252126/7213877.jpg?363)
As part of the deal when you sign with the WWE, they rename and repackage you; they don’t care how successful the character may have been outside the WWE, or even make reference to your past career, they just want to create their own characters. They do this so that they can trademark it and make money from the character, even after the performer has left or been fired from the company. However Bryan Danielson was different.
When Bryan arrived at WWE he didn’t spend much time in the WWE developmental stage, and he got to keep his name…sort of. Despite wanting to keep his real name, the WWE refused, they gave him a list of ten names to choose from, and on the list was Daniel Bryan. Bryan picked this as it was close to his real name, and soon afterwards he was on WWE TV with their brand new show WWE NXT.
NXT was a show to replace WWE’s failed version of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), the concept was to use new talent from the developmental stage and call them rookies, and pair them with current wrestlers known as pros. Bryan was paired with The Miz, this started a lot of backlash from internet fans as Bryan was a more experienced wrestler, who wrestled all around the world, and The Miz was a former reality TV star who had only been wrestling for a couple of years.
When Bryan arrived at WWE he didn’t spend much time in the WWE developmental stage, and he got to keep his name…sort of. Despite wanting to keep his real name, the WWE refused, they gave him a list of ten names to choose from, and on the list was Daniel Bryan. Bryan picked this as it was close to his real name, and soon afterwards he was on WWE TV with their brand new show WWE NXT.
NXT was a show to replace WWE’s failed version of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), the concept was to use new talent from the developmental stage and call them rookies, and pair them with current wrestlers known as pros. Bryan was paired with The Miz, this started a lot of backlash from internet fans as Bryan was a more experienced wrestler, who wrestled all around the world, and The Miz was a former reality TV star who had only been wrestling for a couple of years.
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/2/5/26252126/4186524.jpg)
Many thought it should be the other way round, and that they are just burying Bryan’s past and future career before he even started. But it was far from that. Like I already said WWE tends to never mention anything outside of the WWE Universe, but when Bryan debuted they made it into storyline with The Miz. The WWE played up on the fact that Bryan wrestled in the minor leagues for almost 10 years, spilling blood and sweat in the ring, just to get to the WWE. Yet The Miz was given instant success with the WWE, even though he wasn’t the best wrestler, he had tons of personality and charisma, something which WWE feel is more important than actual wrestling. The feud lasted the good part of 2010; during this time Bryan was fired then rehired again, he returned at Summerslam to take Miz’s place in team Cena. This only fuelled the rivalry further, which came to an end at Night of Champions when Bryan defeated The Miz for the United States Championship.
bryan's wwe debut |
bryan wins us title |
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/2/5/26252126/6352170.jpg?304)
Bryan went on to successfully defend his title against The Miz and John Morrison before dropping it to Sheamus on Raw. A planned rematch was set for Wrestlemania XXVII, this was to be Bryan’s first ever match on the showcase of immortals, but the match was removed from the live card and demoted to the pre-show. This wasn’t Bryan’s only heart-breaking Mania moment, the following year he would lose the World Heavyweight title to Sheamus in a record-breaking 18secs.
Bryan won the World title after cashing his Money in the Bank contract after Wrestlemania XXVII, he turned heel (bad guy), grew a beard and his promos would always involve him screaming yes over and over again. But his reign was seen as nothing more than a transitional period, as the title was being built up for Sheamus. After losing the title in 18secs, that would be enough to kill any wrestler’s career; however it was a turning point for Bryan and the WWE Universe.
Despite being a heel, Bryan’s new character was beginning to win over the fans, he was always respected by the fans for his wrestling ability but they never ever saw anything special in terms of having an entertaining persona. The night after Wrestlemania on Raw, the WWE Universe unhappy with the result, responded by chanting Bryan’s name and Yes catchphrase throughout the show that he didn’t even appear at. This was a start of a new way the fans would react when they didn’t get what they wanted. Before fans would generally take their anger out throughout the internet, now they would hijack the show by ignoring whatever was going on in the show, and chant and demand whatever they want.
Bryan won the World title after cashing his Money in the Bank contract after Wrestlemania XXVII, he turned heel (bad guy), grew a beard and his promos would always involve him screaming yes over and over again. But his reign was seen as nothing more than a transitional period, as the title was being built up for Sheamus. After losing the title in 18secs, that would be enough to kill any wrestler’s career; however it was a turning point for Bryan and the WWE Universe.
Despite being a heel, Bryan’s new character was beginning to win over the fans, he was always respected by the fans for his wrestling ability but they never ever saw anything special in terms of having an entertaining persona. The night after Wrestlemania on Raw, the WWE Universe unhappy with the result, responded by chanting Bryan’s name and Yes catchphrase throughout the show that he didn’t even appear at. This was a start of a new way the fans would react when they didn’t get what they wanted. Before fans would generally take their anger out throughout the internet, now they would hijack the show by ignoring whatever was going on in the show, and chant and demand whatever they want.
For the next few months, fans just loved everything Bryan would do, to keep with his heel persona he stopped chanting ‘YES’ and started chanting ‘NO’. However this just got an even bigger reaction from fans, which resulted in both Bryan and the Universe screaming ‘YES’ and ‘NO’ over and over again. Bryan next feud was with his old ROH rival CM Punk, the two wrestlers battled in classic matches for the WWE title, with Bryan always being the loser between the two. |
His failure to capture title turned Bryan character into short angry bearded man; this resulted in him appearing in some of the funniest skits in the WWE. Bryan alongside Kane, who had also been challenging for the title, had been sent to anger management to solve their anger issues. During this time they both formed a tag team called Team Hell No, despite their hate for each other, they eventually hugged it(which the actually did), and went onto capturing the WWE Tag Team titles. They held the titles for over 200 days, their highlight being at Wrestlemania 29, where Bryan finally got to perform on the big stage, as they defeated the team of Dolph Ziggler & Big E. They lost the titles a month later to The Shield.
anger management |
team hell no vs ziggler & big e |