Posted in: Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders: August 20, 2012 - "Have fun with her, Daniel, but don't get too involved" - CM Punk
By The Doc
May 9, 2012 - 8:57:23 PM

August 20, 2012

He could not help but notice her. In a unique way, she was incredibly attractive. In Aberdeen, Washington, you just don’t see girls like her. There was just something about her; something physically intoxicating that made him think about nothing but sex. Surely, you’ve met a girl like that. There is a type of female that just exudes an aggressive sexual nature. Daniel Bryan was not accustomed to being around such women.

She was counting on that…

Though Daniel gave the attraction little thought after that day, Beth Phoenix took full notice of his cursory glances in her direction. Even though she was dating his friend, CM Punk, at the time, she was already preparing for the future. You wouldn’t know it until you got to know her well – and not many ever get to know her well – but Beth is a predator. She is capable of hard work, but she is constantly looking for an easier way up the ladder of life. Quite frankly, she knew that Punk wasn’t buying into her and that she would soon have to look for easier prey. She certainly tried to spin her web with Punk, but he was from Chicago and a bit more hip to her game. “It’s alright,” she figured. Daniel Bryan was, after all, a former World Heavyweight Champion that had just headlined Wrestlemania, was now the face of the WWE’s latest attempt at rebuilding the tag team division, and had recently spent an entire afternoon undressing her with his eyes. Beth’s own life was beginning to spin out of control and, since her relationship with Punk was not going to work out, she needed someone to latch onto in a desperate attempt to keep herself relevant.

She liked her chances with Daniel Bryan…

Professionally, Daniel Bryan and Jack Swagger were tearing it up all over the country. Their tag team matches with World United (Drew McIntyre and Justin Gabriel) were drawing rave reviews and it was honestly helping the tag team division get more air time. Swagger had approached Bryan earlier in the year about tagging together until Bryan got back into the main-event. Bryan, initially tentative, was surprised to find himself creatively sinking his teeth into it. They had dubbed themselves the “All American Dragons,” with Bryan bringing back his old moniker. The fans loved their style. Their combo finishing move of the ankle and Labell locks got over so quickly that they were both turned into babyfaces and given the tag team titles in early June. Instead of being bummed about dropping down the card, Bryan was embracing the challenge, even going so far as to spend several weeks (and counting) rejecting potential names for the finisher to make sure it was just right and had staying power. The rivalry with World United came about organically with the America vs. the World angle being played up on Smackdown and it was paying dividends. Bryan was enjoying himself.

It was around that time that Daniel began romantically seeing Beth. It had been months since she and Punk had split. He felt bad about dating his friend’s ex and got himself overly anxious when talking with Punk about his desire to date her. Punk was cool with it, though he did tell Daniel to have fun with her, but to be cautious. Bryan didn’t think anything of that warning. He’d spent a night with Beth a week earlier and it was all he could think about. He was consumed by Beth. She was unquestionably wild by his standards; maybe even a bit off the hinges, at times. Yet, at the same time, she carried herself well with people. He was far too infatuated with her to see that it was all an act. She painted the picture of herself as a girl from a rough background that had risen above her environment and tried to make something of herself. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, an alarm was going off that should have made him more guarded toward her, but he was raised to give people the benefit of the doubt. A conversation with his dad about her past would have usually raised enough red flags to make him take a step back, but the senior Bryan told his wife after the talk with their son that Daniel was “blinded by the p*ssy.”

Their relationship had started with a lot of promise, in Daniel’s mind. He really liked her and she seemed to really like him. When they appeared together in backstage segments, you could tell that he was smitten. They spent day and night together, drawing closer and closer. The audience was changing their tune to her, as well. They began accepting her, following Daniel’s lead.

His friends did not share the peoples’ opinions. Punk began to more aggressively attempt to warn him about her. He repeated his earlier advice to not get seriously involved. Punk went into further detail and told him that Beth took medication to battle depression and that he used to have to take her to meetings with her shrink. According to Punk, she would skip taking her meds for days on end and that he legitimately thought that she was crazy. Daniel shrugged it off. He liked her so much that he felt he could handle it. He insisted that she’d changed. Beth had been right; he was easy prey.

Shortly after that conversation, Punk received an accidental text message from Beth that was supposed to be sent to her friend a name down on her contact list. Punk immediately showed it to Bryan. It read:

Check this out…I got me a new boyfriend; a former World Champion who just headlined Wrestlemania $$$

Believe it or not, Daniel read it and actually just laughed it off. It no longer mattered what his friends said. His more street savvy friend didn’t understand. His connection with Beth was different; they had something special. He reasoned that Beth was just proud to be with someone that could support her.
He never even mentioned it to Beth…

Thinking that his friends would come around eventually, Daniel invited Beth to accompany him, Swagger, and Punk to ringside for a 6-man tag team match on Raw. That should have been the night that he snapped out of his trance and listened to his own brain, which was screaming for him to be wary after what Punk had told him and the text message Punk showed him. Up to that point, she’d been an angel – a devil in disguise, as it was, but an angel nonetheless. Her actions that night were embarrassing. She did not endear herself to his friends, as he’d hoped. It was quite the opposite. They were driven to dislike her even more; not even the happy-go-lucky Swagger could stand her. She was loud and obnoxious and overly dramatic; nothing like she’d been when they first start going out or when it was just the two of them.

Daniel was irate. It was like he’d built a mental dam to hold back all of the negative things about Beth that he’d both heard from others and seen with his own eyes. The public humiliation allowed all of those feelings to rush to the forefront. He was so upset about it that he tried to break it off with her later that week on Smackdown, but somehow, after she turned on her charms, it was Daniel that came away feeling like the bad guy. By the next week’s Raw, they were back together and dating exclusively at his request.

She thought that she had him after that. Hook, line, and sinker…

From that point on, though, Bryan’s emotions were quite a roller coaster. Things were progressing so quickly between he and Beth that words like “love” and “marriage” were being thrown around. It was like that movie from the early 90s, Love Potion #9, where the guy falls for the girl but the only way for the girl to keep her grip on him is to be around him wearing that sensual concoction. Figuratively, Beth was wearing the love potion. When Daniel wasn’t around her, he was increasingly thinking that something wasn’t right. He could not quiet that little voice inside his head telling him that something about Beth was all wrong. It didn’t take long, after he started seeing things a bit more clearly, to realize that the Beth that he thought he was falling for really did not exist. Maybe she was trying to be, but that wasn’t the real Beth. The real Beth was the one that Punk had warned him about. The real Beth was the one that had embarrassed him in front of his friends (and the world) and caused tension between him and his road family. The more time went by, the more the “potion” wore off and the real Beth showed up. She was a low class, borderline addict that simply knew how to get what she wanted.

The American Dragons had a great match at Money in the Bank in July with Gabriel and McIntyre and retained the titles. The ring had become Bryan’s safe haven from Beth. It was the only place that he could stay away from her, for the most part. She texted and called him all the time at all hours of the day and night. Beth knew she was losing control and she threw herself at Daniel to try and maintain the one hold she still had on him. Physically, he was infatuated with her. All she had to do was touch him and he’d be spellbound like no thoughts of a break-up had ever crossed his mind. It was a silent battle between them. He was trying to break her sensuous grip, knowing that her negative influence was far more toxic than the benefit he received from his attraction to her. He had made the decision that it could never work between them and that he would have to find a way to end it. She, meanwhile, was trying desperately to keep him in her clutches, secretly “forgetting” something important in her daily routine (if it had ever been a part of her daily routine at all).

As Summerslam approached and the Dragons vs. United 2/3 falls match for the tag titles was getting some good hype on television, Bryan finally worked up the guts to do it. He talked to Punk on his way to Beth’s dressing room. He warned Daniel to be prepared for a lot of insults and/or desperate pleas. He broke it off with Beth, live on television. She threw herself at him, but he found a way to resist. He endured the wild accusations and everything else that the tongue lashing had to offer, but he walked out a free man. It was the best thing for him and he knew that. This time, there would be no going back.

Or so he thought…

Last night at Summerslam, after two weeks had gone by since the break up, Beth approached Daniel backstage, telling him she had something that she wanted to show him. Bryan told her that he had to go wrestle his match and stay focused and that now was not the time for it. “After, then,” she definitively stated without much room for argument. Daniel told her that he had already made plans after, in an attempt to force the issue and let her know that spending time together was not in the cards. He walked away before she could say anything else. The 2/3 Falls match was outstanding, earning high marks and overshadowing Cena’s successful title defense against Rey Mysterio that preceded it. The Dragons retained the tag titles again and pushed their undefeated record as a team to 20-0.

Yet, as they were celebrating, Beth’s music hit and she came down to the ring. Daniel, led somewhat by Swagger, attempted to move past her. He told her, barely audibly to the cameras, that they could not do this right now and that they had to focus on moving on. Swagger and Bryan headed up the ramp with Beth in tears in the ring. She jumped out and grabbed a microphone from Justin Roberts, as the tag champs were just about to cross the threshold to the backstage area. Something happened, though, to cause Daniel to pause just before he would have disappeared out of sight. He slowly turned, the blood all but completely drained from his face; his heart beating so hard in his chest that he thought he might pass out. He stood there with a look of disbelief, pain, horror, fear, and panic. Dropping to one knee to balance his suddenly unbalanced body, Daniel looked like someone had just told him that his mother died.

That something that caused the reaction?

Beth Phoenix, overjoyed like it was good news that set her free of all her troubles for the rest of her life, had happily screamed….

“I’M PREGNANT!!!!!”