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While it was designed to be the go-home angle, the contract signing segment was disjointed and all over the place. You had Randy Orton promising to demolish Bryan, while Bryan was promising to once again, overcome the odds and become the champion. Then, you had Triple H knocking Daniel Bryan by saying that he was similar to Edge, Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam as good talents who weren't good enough to be "the guy" and taking it so far as to say that had Bryan or one of them been "the guy" when The Monday Night Wars were going on, WCW would have put WWE out of business.
There are ways for a heel with power to put his finger down on a babyface so that they have something to prove en route to vindicating themselves, but in this case, Bryan's challenge of HHH made it worse. Instead of back-tracking like a villain should to the hero standing up for himself, HHH continued the burial, painting himself as a star at the level of Brock Lesnar, The Rock and Undertaker (which he is, except their drawing ability today far exceeds his) and that neither he nor they would step into the ring with Bryan, because he's so beneath them.
That entire logic is the problem. Bryan has now won the WWE title twice. Yes, the second time it was taken away but when you are a talent headlining your fourth PPV main event in a row, when WWE isn't presenting you as a star, at some point, you are doomed to fail.
This is the same sort of mistake in presentation that WWE made with CM Punk in 2011, where he won the WWE title and became the hottest character they had, only to lose the belt a month later and sort of meander through the next few months in a program with....Triple H. Sure, Kevin Nash was there and his medical issues didn't allow him to actually wrestle, but by the end of the story, Punk had lost his momentum, his title and had lost to HHH. He's still waiting to get that win back. He's gotten himself over and remained over, but never at that white-hot level that he was at. That was WWE's fault, in how they booked him and presented him.
By presenting Daniel Bryan as this guy who's in the main event position for a third of a year now but doesn't really matter and isn't really a star - that has to be one of the stupidest moves any promotion could make. Hey, see this main eventer here? Well, don't get used to him, because he's not really anything great.
Of course, that doesn't even bring into account that none of that said much for the "Face of WWE" when Randy Orton is stepping in the ring with Bryan. So, HHH also knocked his own guy in a roundabout way for doing something that was beneath HHH!
The other problem with this is that as the angle progresses, it's Shawn Michaels sticking up for his protege. Hey, it's great that they are tying Michaels and Daniel Bryan together finally and the video on their history was awesome, but Bryan's now pinned John Cena and Randy Orton clean. He's fought back against unstoppable odds. He's galvanized the locker room to stand with him. He's beloved by the audience. He doesn't need Michaels to be there pleading his case. Bryan has already shown the world he's a man that fights his battles.
Then of course, Big Show shows up with a truck to distract the dastardly McMahons so Bryan can KO...Randy Orton? So if all this was to put the heat on Orton and Bryan, why the hell didn't Triple H just shut the hell up and let them verbally duke it out? Way too convoluted.
Triple H the COO (as he's currently presented) desperately wants to be Triple H the top villain. The problem with that is that it's not 1999 anymore and it's time for the next generation to be presented as the stars of today, not guys who sniff the jock straps of the old guard and aren't good enough to be anything more then talents that are just there - especially when they are your main eventers.
If WWE intends for Wrestlemania to be anything but a nostalgia act in the years to come, they had better make some new stars and let them flourish, not allow them to be smothered and pulled down the way CM Punk was and the way HHH smothered Daniel Bryan last night on Raw.
The final segment should have been about Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan going into the Hell in A Cell to determine who is truly the WWE champion. Instead, it was about HHH pissing on Bryan in a way that doesn't set up anything but disappointment for Bryan's fans. The scripting of that segment was abhorrent. Now, onto our regular column:
What Worked:
*Daniel Bryan vs. Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler Both were really solid matches that did a lot to actually spotlight the main eventers. Ambrose and Bryan have had so many good matches together that they can do it in their sleep at this point. Ziggler's work was actually the best and most motivated he's looked in some time and he had a good intensity to his usual entertaining work in the ring. When he nailed the Famouser, I thought for a second he had Orton - the mark of good drama.
*Big E. Langston. Langston's promo backstage was a little rough but WWE did a nice job of trying to elevate him last night by putting him with CM Punk and standing up to the Heyman Guys. Langston pinning Curtis Axel clean was a nice way to tease that there could be a new IC champion crowned at Hell in A Cell. Nice job of trying to build Langston, who's work on NXT shows there is something there to him.
*Shawn Michaels as the voice of reason. Michaels got a little goofy at times with his lines but he was there to be the mirror to the face of Triple H and Stephanie to showcase how far gone they have gotten thanks to their own power. For the most part, it worked.
*John Cena videos. There is no way John Cena is not winning the World title after that incredible video looking over his WWE run and career, literally from the day he stepped up to Kurt Angle with "Ruthless Aggression." The video was off the charts and made you want to see what was next for him. Cena being out longer would have made for greater drama upon his return, but the WWE Production Team did a fantastic job.
*The Wyatt Family. My God, they are awesome. Luke Harper was on fire last night and that lariat on Kofi Kingston carried the spirit of Stan Hansen with it. Wyatt had another great promo, basically telling the Miz that they were going to murder him. Rowan isn't as pure a mechanical talent as the other two but does a really good job at being a monster. This team can really go places if Creative doesn't make them stumble. Last night was a great showcase for them.
*WWE Tag Title Picture. When was the last time you can remember you had three teams brawling all over because they want the belts? Me Neither. We reported many months ago that HHH wanted there to be a bigger impetus on the Tag scene and it's nice to see it happening. By the way, Goldust may be one of the most inspirational figures in the business today, given how well he's done since the company has brought him back. Great to see that and I'm looking forward to the Tag three way on the PPV.
ShooBaby! Zeb Colter bringing out the bullwhip to get revenge on El Torito for goring him? As silly as this sounds, I loved it.
What Didn't:
The opening segment. There was nothing said in the opening promo from Triple H and Stephanie McMahon that hadn't already been established. Big Show popping up on the Titantron (How? Did he hire a hacker?) was fine but other than Show knocking HHH and saying he was suing them, this was a lot of nothing.
Ryback vs. Punk feud. This really feels like "been there, done that." Ryback has quickly grown stale since being put with Paul Heyman, something that looked to have great potential but after losing immediately to Punk on PPV, there's been no feeling of some sort of rebound for the character and it's just sort of been this deal where Punk keeps wanting to get to Heyman. They need a strong angle at the PPV if they intend to keep this story going, at least with Ryback. Even Punk's promo this week lacked the usual fire. It's time for him to get his hands on Paul Heyman, even though he technically did once already, which may be why air is sort of out of the balloon. Paul Heyman's promos remain out of this world, however.
Santino Marella vs. Health Slater. I don't want to see any Elvis knockoff in a wrestling ring unless its The Honkytonk Man, thank you. The sort of silly comedy that makes anyone with an IQ roll their eyes and wonder why the rest of us are still watching.
R-Truth as Don West. If you want someone to shill for you, WWE, hire the real deal, because West was and is the man in that regard.
Cody Rhodes on commentary. His forced silliness with JBL didn't work. Less is more. Much less.
What We Learned:
John Cena is coming back. Really, the best part of this show was pushing of the return of Superman.
WWE really needed to turn the Bellas babyface on Raw or Smackdown. There was some decent fire out of Brie Bella in the Twins' tag match against AJ Lee and Tamina, but the audience is completely cold to them. WWE's turn of the Bellas was basically showcasing them on the reality show and then having Brie hug Daniel Bryan. Since they were complete bitches upon their return earlier this year, it's one of those "Huh?" moments for the audience, since at least a sizable portion of them don't watch Total Divas. That should be a lesson to WWE to keep it simple and make sure they spotlight the babyfaces and heel turns, not just assume the audience gets it. They didn't get it and the Bellas storyline has suffered because of it.
Mike Johnson can be reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com.
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