Daily DDT EOY Series: What if Daniel Bryan Never Got Hurt?

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From December 23 through January 2, Daily DDT will be bringing you our “End of the Year” series of posts, which will highlight the biggest topics in professional wrestling from 2014.

In each post, some of our writers will be giving their reaction to these subjects.

In this post, we will ironically look at what would have happened if Daniel Bryan never got injured. It’s ironic because he just announced his intention on returning at the 2015 Royal Rumble last night on Monday Night Raw.

Callum’s Take

WrestleMania 30 bore witness to a moment that many fans had waited years to see. It was the night of the underdog, or more precisely an under-goat. A small man with a big heart, battling away on the independent scene for over a decade for his opportunity to make it to WWE, who had become the voice and soul of the WWE Universe. Due to a mixture of his stellar ring work, unbridled passion, tremendous work ethic, and a one-word catchphrase that took the world by storm, he finally rose to the top of the wrestling mountain.

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Bam Smack Pow

For Daniel Bryan, 2014 was set-up to be his year. He was screwed out of the WWE Championship at SummerSlam 2013 by the Authority and kept away from the belt due to not being deemed an A+ player by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. At one point, it seemed he had been cut out altogether with Batista winning the Royal Rumble and pursuing Randy Orton.

But, thanks to the crowd’s unrelenting desire to see Bryan succeed, he became the biggest focus of the Authority and battled Triple H in the opening match of WrestleMania. After overcoming the legendary COO with his running knee, he was placed into the main event match for the WWE Championship. Despite being dominated for the vast majority due to already competing and pre-existing injuries, Bryan ended the show on the ultimate high by forcing Batista to tap out.

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Fast forward to the cusp of 2015, and that feel-good moment seems like it occurred a lifetime ago. Almost immediately following WrestleMania, Bryan’s pre-existing neck and shoulder injuries returned even more viscerally than before. After defending his title against Kane at Extreme Rules, he was rendered MIA with the injuries, and eventually forced into surgery and vacating his belt. He has been on the shelf since, with some reports stating there are no plans in place for his indeterminate return, and others going so far as to believe that he may never recover to regular in-ring competition.

This particularly cruel twist of fate can’t help but leave some asking the question; what if Daniel Bryan never got hurt? Whilst it can often be difficult to consider so many what ifs that came about in Bryan’s absence, it wouldn’t hurt to try and envisage a scenario that he was still around. I, among many others I’m sure, miss his energetic performances and the crowd bursting out with “YES!” chants at the sound of his entrance music.

So, let’s start from the beginning. At Payback, Daniel Bryan likely would have once again faced Kane in a title match, in some odd gimmick like an Ambulance match. Bryan would defeat his former tag team partner and retain his championship, heading into the Money in the Bank event that would in reality put the stop to his reign. Instead, with Bryan fit and healthy he would have battled another main event star, possibly along the lines of Alberto Del Rio, Randy Orton or Bray Wyatt. Personally, my choice would be the rematch with John Cena that couldn’t occur after SummerSlam, and Bryan would pull out another victory.

However, his championship reign would not extend far belong this point, as he would come face to face with the Beast at SummerSlam. Bryan would put up a gutsy fight throughout the feud, with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman refusing to take him seriously. But in the end it would prove a dominant victory for Lesnar, who captures the championship and continues on his path of destruction and disappearance.

WWE.com

Arguably, Bryan would not receive a rematch at Night of Champions, potentially being forced to compete in some kind of match to earn the number one contender’s spot, and losing out to Cena in some fashion. Bryan thus returns to being the main thorn in the side of the Authority, and likely would receive a similar trajectory to what Dolph Ziggler has received in the last few months. At Night of Champions he would battle Seth Rollins, and then Kane once more at Hell in a Cell in a standard match. He would lost to Rollins through interference, but respond with a win over the Corporate Demon.

Heading into Survivor Series, Bryan would have been a clear fit for the elimination tag between Team Cena and Team Authority. Yet, the structure of the match would have changed dramatically, as Bryan would take the spot given to Erick Rowan. Ryback would get the quick elimination of Henry before falling to Rusev. Rusev would then shockingly eliminate John Cena, before suffering his count out loss. Ziggler would be knocked out at ringside, and Big Show would turn on his team by punching Bryan to the mat. Then, the finish would act out as it did, but open up a feud between Bryan and Big Show moving into TLC.

WWE.com

With all of this going on, Bryan’s place on the roster would also affect a number of other superstars and storylines. Brie Bella and Stephanie McMahon’s rivalry arguably wouldn’t have happened, or at least would have required a different catalyst than forcing Bryan to vacate his title due to injury. John Cena would still be a 14-time world champion. Erick Rowan likely wouldn’t receive as strong a push as he is currently receiving, and Randy Orton may not have been turned face before departing.

Nevertheless, the biggest impact would be felt by the fans, who have missed out on some incredible matches and feuds that Bryan would have added his fantastic energy to. Matches with Seth Rollins, Luke Harper, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar went up in smoke with the fears for his health. In the end, it is incredibly sad that a star that had worked so hard to build up from the bottom and had such an intimate connection with the fans suffered such a tragic injury.

WWE.com

But, we can all carry on with the solace that we as a community of fans got the WWE to notice this man as a main event sensation and led to the feel-good moment of 2014. Bryan may not have been built to be WWE Champion, but this year saw him become the man in the company, even if it proved far too brief. Celebrate the good times and live in hope for his speedy recovery.

And when he returns, will he kick on from where he left off in the eyes of the fans? The answer to that will surely be a resounding “YES!”.