Sure Daniel Bryan got his big WM30 moment and won the title, but for those who really paid attention to his run up to WM30 realize it could have been much better. It started so strong at Summerslam and then had a forced finish that I thought could have been done so much better. Here's how I would have fixed the Daniel Bryan WM30 run up.
To recap at Summerslam WWE executed an excellent heel turn of Randy Orton and HHH. This lead to the formation of the Authority. It was a very well done finish that deserves endless praise, but was cooled quickly the night after and made worse at the next PPV.
The night after HHH over elevated himself by having the entire WWE locker room stand on the stage and basically get knocked down a notch while he claimed himself to be the new leader of WWE and Orton would be his champion. There was no reason to make the rest of the roster look so bad. They did this numerous times over the coming weeks and it was just wrong.
The other horrendous move they made was to put Bryan right into a rematch with Orton at the NOC PPV and then had Orton lose the belt to him. Orton was really hot coming off Summerslam and a strong face run. To simply take the belt away that easily hurt him bad. They also gave Bryan a PPV win for the title making it seem like he got his moment in the sun, only to take it away the next day on Raw for minor reasons that seemed like simply bad booking. Tough to keep recreating a guys big win when you have it happened twice in 30 days.
The angle sputtered from there and it became apparent that WWE actually didn't plan to have Bryan win the strap at WM30 to the anger of a lot of fans. This is why the finished product seemed forced and I think this angle needs fixing. WWE could have built and took away more from this whole time period. Everybody could have won. Here's how.
First the night after Summerslam I would have had Steph, and HHH in the ring crowning Orton as they did with the Shield protecting the ring. No Vince because this is about HHH and Steph not him. That's my Authority for the next 7 months. HHH and Steph would be the mouth piece. Orton the body and the great in ring worker and the Shield as the muscle. I think heel groups get over big when they are not made of guys that are made to look like buffoons all the time. A big part of the Shield's success was the fact that they almost always won. Combine that with a refreshed Orton and you have money. HHH and Steph were also filling the role that CM Punk created for them back in 2011 during his infamous promo.
I would have had Bryan come out that night and demand the automatic rematch, but HHH would inform him that he was not going to grant it because he didn't deem the five minutes that Bryan was champion as worthy of that. Instead at the NOC PPV Bryan could start earning his stripes by taking on Dean Ambrose. If he lost then HHH informed him that he would be put back down on the bottom of the WWE.
Over the next three PPV's Bryan would face Ambrose then Rollins and finally Reigns. Given what we know now about Reigns I still think Bryan could have carried him through 20 minutes. Bryan would win all three matches. This obviously would upset the Authority, but they would still not grant Bryan his title match. This would built to HHH then would allowing Bryan his chance at Survivor Series with the stipulation that if he could beat HHH he would be granted his chance at the title.
What is equally important about this angle is I would have had Orton win three straight title matches at the three straight PPV's following Summerslam. Ziggler for sure would have been in there and two other babyfaces at the time. I would have him winning clean and not cheating because I would want to make Orton as strong as possible. Also, it's important to note that if a guy like Ziggler got a title match loss that would never hurt him. For an up and comer it would only make him more believable as a title contender. I think those three matches would have been win wins for WWE.
I also would have finished the CM Punk Heyman angle faster and got him involved against the Authority playing up the pipe bomb promo from 2011 and how HHH and Steph were proving to be exactly what he said they were by not giving Bryan his shot and how they basically just hate on smaller talents that don't fit their idea of a perfect superstar. This whole situation writes itself.
At Survivor Series I would book Punk and Orton for the belt and just screw Punk out of the title. This would be the first match that Orton uses the Shield to gain a win and really sets off Punk. Later that night I would have the Shield screw over Bryan as well, but just when it seems HHH is going to get the win I have Punk interfere to cost HHH the match and allow Bryan to get the monster win and earn his title chance.
This sets off Punk HHH angle and really rekindles it for all it's worth. Again I would use the Shield against Punk, but I would focus the promo's for Punk heavily on HHH and their past. I would talk about how he ruined his push back in 2011. I think the heat would be really good for this.
At the same time I would have HHH inform Bryan that he had now earned his shot at the title, but all that meant was that HHH would allow him to enter the Royal Rumble at #2. Since he wouldn't want people to think that he was trying to screw him over he put him at #2. The heat would stay on HHH and the underdog role for Bryan would grow.
The TLC PPV would be so important. I would stay with the title merger and have Orton get that clean win over Cena. Think about how great that would be for Orton. He would have won 6 straight title matches on PPV and only one with interference. You are building a strong case for him being a legit great heel Champion a run you rarely see in WWE and you are keeping him red hot.
On that PPV I would have Punk fighting the Shield to win his spot in the Rumble. I would have him get it after help from Bryan. Then I would have Bryan take on Wyatt and have the same match they ended up having at the Royal Rumble in 2014 and lose clean. This would be great as it would allow the Authority to cut promo's on Bryan about how he had lost and make him seem like he was becoming a true underdog to win the Rumble. Great setup for his rumble win.
This also sets Wyatt up as the natural top heel against Bryan when he becomes champion post WM30. It's a huge win for him and I would keep him on course and have him knock off the Taker at WM30. A win that he could use to rocket pack up the roster as the company's new top heel.
At the Rumble I have Orton beat Cena again with help this time. We have to give Cena some protection, so I would use the Shield to get Orton the win and setup the Elimination Chamger match for the next PPV.
In the Rumble Bryan and Punk get down to the end with the Shield. They get rid of Ambrose and Rollins to leave only Reigns with them. Batista debuts and takes out Punk. This sets them up for the chamber PPV where they can meet. Bryan gets rid of Reigns, which helps start building Reigns as a real guy and you get the big win Bryan needs to finally get his shot at the belt.
At Elimination Chamber I have Bryan take on Reigns in an attempt to strip him of his #1 spot. It's basically just filler to get Reigns more solo experience and keep Bryan looking strong as he would get the win. I have Batista beat Punk after interference from HHH. Naturally they now have the match at WM30 where HHH has his job as COO on the line and Punk has his contract on the line. You could cut the promos based on the fact that punk is leaving in July anyway and HHH never wanted him around, so this is his chance to get rid of Punk sooner.
The Chamber match is Cena, Ziggler, Rollins, Ambrose, Orton, and Wyatt. You use this match to get the Shield leaving the Authority angle going as Ambrose and Rollins go for the belt and don't just help Orton. You have Cena get eliminated early as well as Ziggler after some double and triple teaming then you get it down to Wyatt and Orton. When Wyatt starts to look really good you hit the lights out and put the Taker in the chamber who is upset with Wyatt for wrecking Kane earlier in the year. Orton gets the win and survives after Taker tombstones Wyatt setting up their WM30 match. Letting Wyatt get down to the final two again helps build his credibility and the Taker interference protects his push.
Finally at WM30 we have super heel Orton taking on Bryan. Bryan has fought his way here through months of unfair roadblocks and Orton has pretty much looked strong all the way. Does it seem obvious that Bryan is going to win, maybe, but how it really played out was not much different. They could have a five star match regardless because you have 7 months of story where these two have been kept apart following that Summerslam finish. The drama would be amazing to finally see them lock up and they are both excellent workers so the match quality would be high.
Bryan of course gets the win and Orton does a show of respect to him post match. Dare I say that this would be 10x better than what actually happened. Orton gets granted his rematch at the next PPV and has another classic with Bryan. He slowly becomes face again after the second loss to Bryan and the Authority is no longer around to be part of.
Punk beats HHH and the Authority angle ends the right way. Punk sticks around until the end of his contract and finishes at MITB where he had considered leaving in 2011 and loses to Bryan in a wrestling classic. I think an undervalued reason for the Punk departure was that he was cast aside during the entire fall. I think he would have stayed interested if the focus would have been kept on him sooner regarding the Authority angle. I think him being cast aside was really an underrated factor in his departure.
Taker loses to Wyatt who is now becoming super nova hot as a heel. The Wyatt family should naturally become a strong heel faction positioned to topple Bryan as Champion down the road now.
Cena can beat Batista or lose to him in a grudge match. It really doesn't matter as both guys could handle the loss. Batista would get a title match over the summer with Bryan. Cena would get pulled into a feud with Lesnar. What I really like is not using Brock at WM30. I think instead you use him to build a weaker a PPV and make it more important. Perhaps the one in June.
I would play the angle that Brock is upset because he was passed over for WM30 match and that does sit well with him. Use the June match to put him over Cena just like they did at this past Summerslam and then position him against Orton at Summerslam to over there as well. I would put Reigns and Lesnar on a crash course. Brock's so upset that he wants to destroy all the traditional top faces in WWE.
In the end the purpose of all this though was to get a bigger finish at WM30 where we got there in a very well planned way that protected the heat of Orton and Bryan. So much steam was lost by having the many matches that they did and the strange way that the Authority treated Orton.
I think in my version you build something that you can't easily recreate. A payoff that really pops that Superdome crowd and a true WM moment for a guy that really deserves it in Bryan. Maybe that would have put some asses in seats!
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