WWE: The Roster Could #OccupySmackDown to Keep #KofiMania Alive

Last night, KofiMania hit a major roadblock when Kingston failed to defeat his final – and unexpected – Gauntlet opponent in WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. However, there are a few ways Kofi Kingston could still make his way to the Grandest Stage.

One of the most interesting and glaring aspects of this storyline has been the parallels to Daniel Bryan’s road to WWE WrestleMania XXX, only at a much more accelerated rate. Whereas we’ve all sat and watched Kofi get screwed out of the title picture for the last month or so, Bryan was battling the odds for practically an entire year between mid-2013 and the 2014 edition of WrestleMania.

Just to quickly recap his journey into WrestleMania XXX for those too young to remember, Bryan had the WWE Championship quite literally and figuratively stripped out of his hands on behalf of Vince McMahon and Co., aka The Authority. The suits at WWE HQ were actively trying to lock Bryan out of WrestleMania, but his impact refused to be denied. To get Bryan a match at WrestleMania, the Yes Movement staged an #OccupyRAW sit-in during the Mar. 10 episode of Raw.

The moment was a turning point in Bryan’s storyline and directly resulted in him winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.

Fast forward to five years later and the roles have been reversed. This time, Bryan is the WWE Champion while Kofi is the one getting screwed over. Amazingly enough, Bryan is helping to do much of the screwing.

In last night’s promo before Kofi’s Gauntlet Match and in Vince McMahon’s own words from last week, Bryan called Kofi a “B+ Player.” After being called a B+ Player for a year and being actively shut out of the main event scene for the better part of the year, Daniel Bryan holds no sympathy for Kofi’s similar plight.

Out of all of the intricate layers to the Kofi Kingston storyline, this – to me – is the most intriguing. Not only are the parallels between Bryan and Kofi there, but Bryan’s character clearly notices the parallels, but instead of helping Kofi out, he’s quick to shove him off out of a sheer entitlement to his own cause. Even though he himself was a little guy like Kofi who was getting screwed every which way but loose, Bryan could care less because he’s the top dog now.