|
-------------------- So I'm getting flack for yesterday's TITO DAILY about Daniel Bryan as his loyal RoHbots reacted expectedly with several other Bryan fans saying "what about this wrestler" in terms of comparing Bryan's size as Champion to other wrestlers. The wrestlers, who were former Champions, that came up were Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, and Rey Mysterio, 4 out of the 5 wrestlers who were huge contributors to the year 2000 (aside from Mysterio) and 4 out of the 5 wrestlers were former WCW wrestlers with at least 4 years of tenure (aside from Kurt Angle). I find any comparison of Bryan to those 5 ridiculous... For anyone to compare Daniel Bryan to Kurt Angle is smoking something. Kurt Angle is the complete package at 5'10" with being a superb in-ring performer but with an incredibly strong personality that draws well. When Angle faces someone like the Rock, Steve Austin, Triple H, Undertaker, etc., Angle feels like he should be there. Chris Benoit at 5'11" was in the pro wrestling business a long time (since 1985) before being afforded the opportunity to become WWE Champion in 2004. Benoit was a former WCW Champion (though briefly) and the WWE spent more than a year pushing him from Royal Rumble 2003 through Wrestlemania 20. Mind you, Benoit started in the WWE during early 2000 and held multiple WWE midcard titles to eventually earn his one and only shot at being World Champion. With Eddie Guerrero, he was yet another accomplished wrestler despite his shorter 5'8" height. He has been a wrestler since 1992 and was getting over in the WWE since joining the Smackdown roster in 2002. He quickly became the biggest Face on the roster and with Brock Lesnar leaving, he won the title at No Way Out 2004. I would debate to Bryan fans about this one because the WWE quickly got the belt off of Guerrero and onto John "Bradshaw" Layfield. Anyone arguing that Bryan is close in World Title credibility to Chris Jericho is crazy. Jericho is among the more popular WWE superstars not named Rock/Austin/Triple H/Undertaker and was a megastar by the time he debuted in late 1999. Jericho had to wait a full 2 years before he won his first World Title and lost many matches on the way there. He EARNED it. No "Money in the Bank" cash-ins for this 6'0" "vanilla midget". And then there's Rey Mysterio Jr. and his his 5'6" height. Sure, I could seriously argue how a guy that small could pin much larger wrestlers. It's a FAIR criticism... But I'd argue, however, that Mysterio earned his World Title. Mysterio has been a wrestler since 1992 and won his first World Title in 2006. Furthermore with Mysterio, he was a guy who was OVER as a pro wrestler. Fans love the guy, he moves merchandise well, and that can often matter in pro wrestling whether someone is champion or not. Mysterio has had a very accomplished career. What about Daniel Bryan? Ummmm... Ring of Honor? Oh yeah, that promotion that doesn't get national television coverage... Nice resume. Bryan has had things handed to him in the WWE, yet I'd argue he's NOT over enough with the WWE fans to merit the honors. Take his WWE return from his firing... He returned and was immediately given the United States title. Aside from briefly being in NXT and in the Nexus, who is Daniel Bryan and why does he matter again? WWE thought so much of Bryan's U.S. Title reign that they made him lose his U.S. Title randomly to Sheamus on a RAW before Wrestlemania 27 and then the WWE scrapped his rematch to appear as televised on Wrestlemania 27 itself! And now the Money in the Bank victory... Just feel lucky that Smackdown has an incredibly thin roster to choose from. DON'T GET ME WRONG... I *like* Daniel Bryan as a wrestler. There's nothing wrong with pushing him as a strong, credible Intercontinental Champion. Yeah, before 1999, the midcard titles meant something... You didn't HAVE to rush everybody to the World Title to make them look "over". WWE is actually doing the correct thing by having Cody Rhodes proudly be the Intercontinental Champion and in the long-run, Cody Rhodes will be worth more to the WWE than Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan doesn't look credible not just because of his size, but because the WWE hasn't booked him well to be more over with WWE fans and present himself as a legitimate threat to any past World Champion on Smackdown. I don't know how he could even look the part as Champion when in the ring against Randy Orton, for instance... WWE actually booked Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes on the 1/2/2012 RAW and it lost 332,000 according to the segment breakdowns. NOBODY CARES about Daniel Bryan as champion. I guarantee that fans cared about Angle/Benoit/Guerrero/Mysterio/Jericho as Champion, and numbers during their WWE peak years prove that. There is NOTHING WRONG with being a successful midcarder! Damn it, why are wrestling fans so damn impatient on guys they used to cream over in the indy promotions? CONTACT MR. TITO - Email: [email protected] - Twitter: @titowrestling - Join LoPForums.com: Feedback Thread BLOG is TITO Archive on LoPForums.com © Mr. Tito 1998 - 2011
|