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QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you think that Daniel Bryan not being in the main-event at Mania this year reflects something about WWE's relationship with its fans? The following is a case study of WWE’s product for the month of February 2015. WWE Chooses Their Guy Elimination Chamber being removed from the February PPV simultaneously removed a bad booking habit of stuffing 6-12 wrestlers into a World Championship match that would then get lost in the shuffle once creative focus shifted to WrestleMania. Take last year's beast of a performance from Cesaro, for example. He was outstandingly well booked from the week after the Rumble until EC and then he free fell to borderline irrelevance before winning the Andre Battle Royal at Mania 30. He went from having a prominent story to tell to having basically no story in the snap of your fingers. February 2015 may have lacked one of the more entertaining WWE gimmicks, but it gained back the opportunity to build the mid-card heading into a show that has a recent history of putting very little effort into the mid-card. Substantial storyline advancements were made across the landscape. Though the focus was on Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan, John Cena vs. Rusev, and Sting's confrontation with Triple H, the remainder of the Fast Lane card was filled with the large group of "others" that will not be headlining WrestleMania getting a bigger opportunity to shine - to talk, to establish themselves, to work an angle. While the TV product did not light the world on fire, it did have better balance and much fewer segments that could have been construed as "meaningless" or "going nowhere." The three secondary championships not involving The Golden Boy all received varying levels of consistent focus. The Divas title is centered on the age old traditionally attractive versus uniquely attractive (being nice) story. Dean Ambrose's quest for IC title glory gave Bad News Barrett's gold some polish. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd showed considerable charisma in setting up their Tag Team Championship shot. The Miz and Damien Sandow also earned a featured angle this month. Love it or hate it, the bottom line is that they have a budding rivalry brewing that is very over with the fans. Goldust and Stardust only wish that they were getting the kind of heat for their drama, but their split has finally given Cody Rhodes the microphone back; few in the industry today can better execute the persona of a psychopath. Rhodes was one of the highlights of WWE TV the last few weeks. Before month's end, we learned that the IC title will be on the line in a Ladder match at WrestleMania and that we will see the return of the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. It remains to be seen if the attention paid to the mid-card in February will translate to the month of March or if bad booking habits will return in the form of random matches that simply see a bunch of guys thrown into the two multi-man gimmicks, but this was a better month than usual - on TV - for WWE's non-headliners. The top story of the month was again, Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns; only this time it was not an underlying theme in the minds of analytical fans wondering which one would be picked by WWE to win the Rumble and was an actual storyline on TV that actively posed the same question. The design was clear to me from the start: use Bryan as a way to build Reigns and hope that WWE's next chosen star can deliver. All in all, I thought it worked well. I was skeptical as it played out, but once it ended it became pretty obvious what WWE was trying to do. Basically, it wasn't just a situation where Bryan was asked to put over Reigns, but it was also a deeper psychological suggestion to the fanbase that Bryan's year was last year and that it's now Roman's turn. It's a unique time to be a fan. I wonder what would've happened if Eddie Guerrero were on Raw instead of Smackdown in 2005. Would Batista have been adopted as easily by the fans had the still-hottest act in the business been so front and center, as well? I don't know. I think we just live in a different wrestling world right now. The most vocal part of the audience wants Bryan at the top. WWE is betting the farm that Reigns can excel. To his credit, Roman showed a lot more potential by returning to his menacing tough guy persona in February than he did in the entirety of the months that they tried to get him over more as the kid friendly white meat babyface. He was back in his element and I won't say "thriving," but I'll say far better than "surviving." Six months ago, I questioned up, down, left, and right the direction that his character was being driven. Today, I think they've got it figured out. It's going to be fascinating to see how it works out with him as a WrestleMania headliner and, perhaps moving forward, the face of the company in 2015. Fast Lane Review I supported the removal of the Elimination Chamber from the February PPV slot so that we could get a show basically designed to do nothing but further the stories for WrestleMania. Elimination Chamber was another event unto itself like the Rumble. Fast Lane is more my style of pre-WM special. It was a decent card, highlighted by two great matches and two good segments. The mid-card, which has offered something outstanding for the majority of the last year, actually let me down a bit. Nothing was bad, but nothing was that good either. The IC title, Tag Team title, Divas title, 6 man tag, and Dust Brother matches were all average to slightly above average. Mania isn't known for its elite mid-card bouts anymore, so hopefully these talented folks didn't miss their PPV window. Wyatt's promo on Taker, aided by druids and the casket, was awesome. That and the Sting-HHH showdown took the place of the standout mid-card match, with each getting me amped for those respective WrestleMania bouts. Then, Rusev and John Cena got me pumped for their Mania rematch by performing so well in their initial encounter. Wow did Rusev ever hit a home run. He had such command of the ring that it's hard not to call that effort a “Rusev match” (****). It nearly claimed the honors for Match of the Night, but Bryan and Reigns stole the show. If there was a “Performance of the Night,” it would go to Rusev, but Bryan and Reigns displayed great chemistry and exuded a big fight feel. Surely, Reigns silenced some critics. I've studied wrestling matches for a long time and that was one of the finest matches I've seen from a first time main-eventer. Reigns draws a lot of comparisons to Cena. His ability to go toe-to-toe with a ring general like Bryan reminded me of Cena's match at No Mercy 2003 with Kurt Angle. As you may recall, that was the match that silenced a lot of Cena's critics. The rest is history. Hats off to Reigns and Bryan (**** ¼). NXT Takeover: Rival Review NXT continues to impress me. I decided to make Rival my first live NXT viewing experience and was not at all disappointed. No less than three matches from the card found their way onto my top 10 of the month list, but the entire show was incredible. NXT reminds me a lot of TNA circa 2003/2004. They have some of the best “indy” workers in the business and the show is fairly simplistically booked. Thus, it is an alternative to WWE. That's what I appreciate about it most. It's just very different than what we saw at Fast Lane. Match by match, I liked what I saw from Tyler Breeze (that selfie stick is a heat magnet) but I'm not sold on Hideo Itami's ability to transition to WWE. The tag title match was skippable. I'm not at all impressed with Baron Corbin. Adrian Neville vs. Finn Balor was amazing (**** ¼). The Fatal Fourway for the Women's title was another in a long line of standout female matches from NXT; I loved the finish (*** ½). Kevin Owens showed me that he could move to the main roster as a schoolyard bully character and make a difference. Owens vs. Sami Zayn was an amazing match. It had some critics, but that's the kind of match that – though it cannot be done often – when it delivers, it creates for nearly untouchable drama (**** ½). Match of the Month: Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns at Fast Lane This will require some explanation. You may have noticed that Owens vs. Zayn earned a higher star rating from me than Reigns vs. Bryan. Here's the deal: NXT is something new for me and I judge it differently than I do WWE proper. Again, I view it as an alternative. So, in terms of hype and personal investment in a match, the one in February that most had to deliver for me was the Fast Lane main-event. And it definitely did. My current tastes in wrestling make a match like Owens vs. Zayn preferable to my palate, but Reigns vs. Bryan carried far more historical weight in my mind. I may never watch the NXT Rival main-event again, but I'm quite certain that Bryan vs. Reigns will make for numerous future viewings. It may be a case-by-case basis for the future, as I've already put an NXT Takeover main-event (Zayn vs. Neville) ahead of its WWE PPV counterpart for a previous Match of the Month. I did not feel that there was a big enough difference in quality to make that decision again this month. Previous MOTM winners for 2015: Rollins vs. Lesnar vs. Cena at the Rumble (January) Wrestler of the Month: Daniel Bryan Bryan came into the month in a tough situation. He quite clearly wanted to wrestle Brock Lesnar in the main-event at WrestleMania. He managed to get healthy enough to wrestle just in time to force WWE to give him that, but WWE decided otherwise. We already knew that he was the consummate professional. He did not need to prove that again. Yet, he was tasked with getting over the man chosen instead of him this year. To Bryan's undying credit, he did more to put over Reigns in four weeks than the rest of WWE's combined effort since breaking up The Shield last June. I thought about giving Roman the nod for WOTM considering he, too, was in a rough spot having to deal with the Yes! Movement-inspired hatred and do so with the face of the naysayers as his rival for the month. Bryan may not have gotten the WrestleMania nod, but he'll get it from me. I've been stating for a while now that I hope D Bry gets the chance to become this generation's HBK. Few were better at putting someone over than Michaels. If February 2015 was any indication, Bryan might have a bright future as a high profile set up guy who steals many a show. But will that be enough? Previous WOTM winners: Brock Lesnar (January) March Predictions WrestleMania 31 is shaping up to be a very intriguing card. There is a balance amongst the top five (and potentially six) matches that reflects the depth of the next generation. I fully expect that Roman Reigns will beat Brock Lesnar for the WWE title. Lesnar was made by so many top stars (Rock, Taker, Angle). It's his turn to make someone. Wyatt vs. Taker and Rollins vs. Orton will both be unpredictable matches, though. A month away, I cannot pick the winners. I look forward to seeing how both feuds play out leading up to the matches. I have no idea what to expect, in terms of quality, from Sting vs. Triple H. That could get ugly. The wild card as we enter March is Daniel Bryan. After the year that he has had, it would be a real shame for him not to be featured in a top match. I like the idea of Sheamus vs. Bryan. I think it gives Bryan a chance to close a chapter that never ended. Here's hoping that all parts of the fan base are given something to sink their teeth into, rather than the usual top heavy Mania that typically leaves numerous favorites on the backburner. Not that I don't enjoy Manias with epic auras, but this seems like a year that will build to another one of those in the future.
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