It feels like just yesterday we collectively as WWE fans all loved, cheered and respected Daniel Bryan. The first guy since Steve Austin or The Rock to capture the love of everyone. It was incredible a baby face someone you were supposed to cheer was getting cheered by everyone. There wasn’t one person in the crowd booing Daniel Bryan during his Yes! Movement run and in this era that is something that we are not accustomed to. We lived the entire build the anger the sadness and the euphoric joy when he actually won the title. I can remember hosting a Wrestlemania party at my house with about ten other people and within a trip to the fridge and back the match was over. Daniel Bryan had lost the title to Sheamus, Daniel Bryan the heel lost to Sheamus in eighteen seconds and we were all collectively pissed. He then tagged with Kane and it became the most amazing thing on television each week with the anger management skits. Fast forward we get to John Cena at Summerslam and all of us sitting at the edge of our seat cheered when Daniel Bryan pinned John Cena clean in the middle of the ring. Of course that happiness only last so long until a pedigree and a pin later Randy Orton became champion.
Then we have the Royal Rumble where Batista won and we all hated Rey Mysterio because Daniel Bryan was the guy that just had to win. Why wasn’t Daniel Bryan even in the match? Oh well maybe WWE planned it that way or maybe it was truly because of the backlash we all finally had our moment in New Orleans Wrestlemania XXX which may go down as the most memorable of all time because of this moment and a certain other streak breaking moment. However Bryan had won defeating three of the greatest of all time in one night to finally hold the titles up and for us to have a proper celebration for our guy OUR champion. Only yet again for it to be taken away. Daniel Bryan may be the single greatest non death related tragedy in the history of the business. He had shattered glass ceilings as well as become the uncrowned face of the company. He had one PPV title defense and then it all changed and the rest of his career would change as well. However let’s say he doesn’t have to surrender the title and let’s say at this time he is good to go at least for a while what would happen?
Extreme Rules that year would have been the same with the authority still trying to take the title off of Bryan by using the big red machine Kane. The match would have gone down the same way however instead of him having to start talking injury the next night we would roll right into his feud for Payback. Which would be against Kane yet again however this time in a cage match. Stephanie McMahon of course would be at ringside and even lock the cage door as Daniel Bryan tried to escape. Bryan however would overcome the odds and escape the cage defeating Kane yet again and ending his feud against his former tag team partner.
The feud with Stephanie McMahon however would not be over as she would be confronted backstage by his next opponent. Alberto Del Rio would come to Stephanie offering to help take the title off Daniel Bryan and putting onto a champion they could once again be proud of. Stephanie would love the idea of someone as prestigious as Alberto being the number one contender and it would be set Alberto Del Rio against Daniel Bryan at the Money in the Bank PPV. Also if you remember John Cena was the man who won the vacated title in the Money in the Bank match however it would not have gone down like that had Bryan not been hurt. Although that is all true the Money in the Bank briefcase holder would still have been no other than Seth Rollins.
Daniel Bryan would have beaten Alberto Del Rio in a fantastic match as both men are great workers and the styles would have meshed rather well. This would have infuriated Stephanie McMahon as she would have then stacked the deck against Daniel Bryan one more time at Battleground. At Battleground Daniel Bryan would have had to defend his title against Alberto Del Rio, Randy Orton and Kane in a fatal four way match. This match would have gone the way you would expected with the heels getting upset with each other for not letting the other win the title. Bryan would have capitalized sending Stephanie McMahon over the edge. The Battleground PPV would have gone off the air with her backstage with a phone in her hand talking to someone.
We are now on the road to Summerslam and I believe we all know what the plan was supposed to be for Summerslam and that was Daniel Bryan to face off against Brock Lesner. As I alluded to above Stephanie would be on the phone speaking with someone at the end of the PPV and the next night on Raw we would see the return of the streak killer himself Brock Lesner. This was the match everyone to this point was looking forward to and you would have built Bryan up as someone who could beat a giant, multiple men and former world champions. The match at Summerslam would have gone very similar to the Lesner and Cena match. With Lesner tossing Bryan around the ring like a ragdoll and pinning him. This would have gotten massive heat on Brock Lesner and also reinstated the chase for Daniel Bryan.
Bryan at this point would take some time off. Go away for maybe a month before returning and being told that he doesn’t get his match back that he would have to start at the bottom. This would lead to Daniel Bryan over the next few months having to defeat everyone just to have a shot at the beast again. So he would have to beat maybe The Miz at Hell in a Cell. The next PPV would have been Survivor Series and I actually can leave this match pretty much as is except for instead of Dolph Ziggler getting the hero spot at the end with Sting interference that would be Daniel Bryan’s moment. He would go on to pin Seth Rollins defeating team authority.
This is where things change a bit. We all know what happens at this rumble with them going ahead and giving it to Roman Reigns and many believe they were ahead of schedule by one year. I agree and the way I see it is Daniel Bryan would be forced to enter at number one. He would go on and win the rumble with Roman Reigns facing Brock Lesner at the Royal Rumble PPV. This would have given Roman a taste of the main event at an event where people would be excited and not upset with him. Seth Rollins would tease a cash-in costing Roman the match and leading to both of their matches at Wrestlemania. Bryan now is cemented as the winner of the Royal Rumble and will have his rematch against Brock Lesner at Wrestlemania 31, one year after both of them gave the fans extreme emotions and now Bryan would have a shot at redemption.
The build to this would be something you can’t even fathom. We would have Stephanie McMahon and company fully behind the beast. We would have Daniel Bryan having to overcome things over and over leading up to the PPV. At Wrestlemania 31 Stephanie McMahon would actually flank Paul Heyman behind the beast incarnate the champion the conqueror Brock Lesner. Brie Bella would be firmly in the corner of her husband and the match would look a lot like the first encounter. With Lesner dominating and tossing Bryan around the ring however never able to get a three count. Bryan would build a comeback and hit the flying headbutt. He would utilize the yes kicks. After a crazy sequence of events where Bryan reverses a belly to back suplex and lesner would catch the flying knee, Bryan would reverse an F5 and hit the flying knee out of know where. As both men lay on the mat and Daniel Bryan crawling over to Lesners body Seth Rollins music would hit. He would run down to the ring as Bryan still crawling to Lesner is unaware of what is going on. Rollins would hit a curb stomp to Bryan and pin him becoming the WWE World Champion and the most hated man on the face of the planet. We would have been robbed yet again however this time for the greater good. Lesner would still not have lost and Bryan would have only been pinned because of Rollins cash-in. This of course would have led to Seth Rollins against Roman Reigns against Daniel Bryan in a triple threat. Then probably Rollins and Bryan one on one until we got Rollins and Lesner at Summerslam. Reigns likely would go on to win the next rumble and win the main event of Wrestlemania. Bryan would have been in one of the co-main event slots going forward.
[irp posts=”26645″ name=”Re-Writing the Book: Chapter 3: The Loose Cannon” Brian Pillman”]
This will conclude chapter four of Re-Writing the Book. I hope you all enjoyed it and I expect as I have over the last few weeks more and more feedback and response. Thank you to everyone who checks these out and sends me comments and feedback. Also if you haven’t entered our givewaway contest yet please go to the link @InnerN3rd provided on twitter or go to IWNerd.com and find the contest page. Until next time be awesome.