Posted in: Mr. Tito
MR. TITO STRIKES BACK - WWE is Trolling Wrestling Fans with Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns at Fastlane PPV
By Mr. Tito
Feb 9, 2015 - 11:25:24 PM

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During November 2014, the WWE ran a special deal in which NEW subscribers of the WWE Network would receive a month FREE. That's right, for the first time since the show was invented in 1987 (aside from piracy), Survivor Series was given away for FREE. Well, not exactly... WWE has your personal information and will not only solicit you for WWE stuff, but probably sell that information to other companies... NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH! But the WWE Network numbers are in. With the inclusion of foreign markets, the WWE finally hit and exceeded 1,000,000 viewers.

Thus, for February 2015, the WWE is doing it again... Any NEW subscribers of the WWE Network can get February for FREE and thereby receive WWE Fastlane for FREE. And just what match was booked for WWE Fastlane besides John Cena vs. Rusev 1 month early? Why, it's Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns... For those in the Internet Wrestling Community already telling me "see, see, see, the WWE is changing their minds"... I'm warning you to not take the troll bait. That's right, the WWE is probably trolling fans with this match-up, even if it actually leads to Lesnar vs. Reigns becoming a Triple Threat with Daniel Bryan.

I still believe that Wrestlemania 31 still ends with Roman Reigns winning the WWE Title but Seth Rollins steals it by cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase.

I believe that Vince McMahon and Triple H still remember 2014. They wanted to push the returning Batista and fans hijacked shows in order to force Wrestlemania 30 to be rebooked. What did that get the WWE in the end? Unfortunately, we'll never know about Daniel Bryan because he was immediately booked in that stupid feud with Kane and then suffered a neck injury. But Batista? Oh, he was just in one of the top grossing films of 2014. Batista said "heck with the WWE" and actually left early than he was supposed to in order to begin promoting the film. Guardians of the Galaxy just made $774.2 million last year... OOOPS!

Yes, I'm well aware of the poor booking surrounding Batista last year... Wrote many columns on the topic. Go read them... But to WWE's credit, they were right on pushing Batista based on the potential mainstream success they could have enjoyed based on Guardians of the Galaxy being extremely successful. Instead, they ditched LONG TERM plans in order to satisfy what appeared to be happening in the SHORT TERM. They destroyed all booking plans in order to satisfy the "sugar high" that Daniel Bryan fans were giving the WWE. In the end, the WWE could have bragged that they had a major movie star on their roster and he was WWE Champion. They lost that by going with Bryan.

Fast forward to 2015. Here we go again with Daniel Bryan except this time, the WWE believes that they are smarter than WWE fans. Why else would that joke of a Royal Rumble 2015 match appearance would have happened? Bryan didn't last long and seemed to be easily disposed by Rusev and Bray Wyatt. That's in addition to Daniel Bryan losing, again, to Bray Wyatt on a recent edition of RAW and WWE Fastlane was supposed to feature yet another Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt match which would have served as a build-up match for Bray before he reportedly wrestles the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 31. WWE was tossing around the idea of maybe doing a Dolph Ziggler vs. Daniel Bryan match or even another Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan match at Wrestlemania 31. But now, he's been added to Fastlane with the possibility to steal Roman Reign's Royal Rumble earned #1 contendership.

And then this newsbyte just so happens to leak from the WWE... You know, the WWE is a publicly traded corporation. Wouldn't releasing trade secrets and other sensitive information be quite damaging to the WWE Stock? Based on how it stays under $20 per share, I would say so... I don't see other Corporations leaking information as they do. If Vince McMahon were a responsible CEO and Chairman of the Board, he'd find out who was leaking this information and squash them like a bug.

Oh? Wait a second... Maybe he and other WWE officials directly feed the "dirt sheets" newsbytes...

Anyway, here's the newsbyte that just so happened to leak, as transcribed through LordsofPain.net from the Wrestling Observer:

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We noted two weeks ago that WWE officials would not be putting Daniel Bryan into the WWE World Heavyweight Title Match at WrestleMania 31 with Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar because Vince McMahon didn't want to go that route again after doing the same thing last year. Vince reportedly held a meeting this past week and changed his mind.

According to The Wrestling Observer, the new idea for the WrestleMania 31 main event is Bryan vs. Reigns vs. Lesnar for the title.

Plans could always change between now and the Fastlane pay-per-view on February 22nd but the current idea is to do a Triple Threat at WrestleMania 31 after Vince made the decision, apparently due to the crowd reactions.


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Results of a meeting held with CEO and Board Chairman Vince McMahon were leaked to one of 3 publications who seemed to exclusively post pro wrestling news? It's funny how we NEVER and I mean NEVER hear any "leaked" meeting results from other CEOs or Board Chairpersons at other publicly traded corporations?

That's why I'm calling BULLSHIT on this Triple Threat match at Wrestlemania 31 and even if it happens, Daniel Bryan, to quote the leaky Vince McMahon has NO CHANCE IN HELL of walking away as WWE Champion. That honor still goes to Roman Reigns. Vince McMahon is CRAZY HIGH on Roman Reigns and has been personally scripting lines for Reigns and taking an active role in his push. Vince does NOT break long-term plans on pushes. Just see 2011... Vince wanted Alberto Del Rio to be WWE Champion by SummerSlam 2011 and damn it, he got him! Some of you will ask "what about Batista in 2014?", to which I answer, that was Triple H's friend. Roman Reigns was hired by the WWE specifically for his look (no wrestling experience) and because of his relations to the Rock. Hey, who was flown in for Royal Rumble? Oh yeah, the Rock...

WWE Fastlane is a CASH GRAB to boost WWE Network subscribers through Wrestlemania 31. And let's be honest, $9.99 is a pretty good deal if you haven't seen all of those past WWE, WCW, and ECW events along with other documentaries and programs. Oh, and Pay Per Views... It's very likely that this February drive to get WWE Network subscribers will be equally as or more successful than the November 2014 FREE drive. But the question is this: will Daniel Bryan fans become disappointed in the results of WWE Fastlane and/or Wrestlemania 31 and actually walk away? If the WWE isn't satisfying you by pushing Daniel Bryan as you wish, then why are you watching? WWE has trolled you on Daniel Bryan since 2012 when Sheamus slaughtered him for the World Heavyweight Championship in 18 seconds at Wrestlemania 28. What makes 2015 any different?

Somehow try to convince me that Vince McMahon, who loves size, Kevin Dunn, who loves movie star looks, and Triple H, who loves anybody who takes his direct advice, are going to give Daniel Bryan another chance to be the WWE's top star? All 5'10" (billed height, he's shorter) and 210 pounds of him (billed, probably soaking wet)... It's not happening. The qualities that Vince, Dunn, and Triple H seek are within Roman Reigns along with other wrestlers in the pipeline like Rusev or Bray Wyatt, maybe Seth Rollins. You can keep chanting YES! YES! YES! YES! all you want but until you start hurting the WWE's pocketbooks, WWE will troll you. Now that Bryan suffered a neck injury, the WWE will be extra cautious to repeat 2014 where Bryan was out for an extended period of time.

I'll be honest, and maybe the WWE's constant depushing of him during 2012-2014 did the trick... I'm worn out on Daniel Bryan. He's a great wrestler and always fun to watch in the ring, but I'm tired of campaigning for him. But I can see where he lacks intangibles as a wrestler, besides his obvious short height. He's OK on the microphone and his personality is, well, just there. He's a much less complete wrestler than say CM Punk, who I would pay top dollar to see wrestle (not MMA) again. CM Punk is that complete wrestler that arrives only once in a lifetime that the WWE just flushed away. Seth Rollins is morphing into the complete wrestler that the WWE can do more with, long term, than Daniel Bryan. I'm starting to slowly agree with the Vinces, Dunns, and Triple Hs of the world in that Daniel Bryan is a B+ Player. He's easily A+ in the ring, but he looks amazing in the ring at the expense of his own body by doing those spots. The neck injury might be the beginning of the end for his career.

I fully believe that the WWE is just trolling Daniel Bryan fans with the "rebooking" of WWE Fastlane. Daniel Bryan is either going to get screwed out of the Fastlane match against Roman Reigns (maybe Sheamus or Dolph Ziggler attacks?) or he'll just be the bump guy added to the Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns match at Wrestlemania 31. Vince McMahon's grand plans for Wrestlemania 31 will NOT be broken... Roman Reigns will win the WWE Title with the only thing stopping that is a Money in the Bank cash-in and victory by Seth Rollins. As I argued in a previous column, Seth Rollins has a real chance to "save" Wrestlemania 31 from any Roman Reigns disappointment. Roman could then chase Seth Rollins for the WWE Title and have his true BIG moment at SummerSlam 2015.

As I argued in yet another column, WWE had quite a cash cow in the Pay Per View market that they seemed to kill not just with a lack of quality (flooding the market with too many Pay Per Views), but by repeatedly increasing prices. WWE thought that their WWE Network streaming solution would be a bigger hit than what has happened. Little did they realize how expensive bandwidth costs were... They are breaking even to showing little profit on the WWE Network right now. WWE will do whatever it takes to boost numbers right now. FREE month giveaways but also placing the belief in Daniel Bryan fans that he's actually going to get pushed as WWE Champion. The joke is on you.

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BONUS!

Enough about Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns. Let's move onto another wrestler...

RUSEV. I'll admit it... I really like this wrestler now. At first, he was just pushing the Cold War stuff while dominating every wrestler in sight without selling a thing. As 2014 progressed, Rusev started having better matches and he actually sold moves for his opponents. I really liked his stuff with Jack Swagger, in particular, and by showing just a slight bit of vulnerability, he doesn't come off as just a stiff, overpushed wrestler. Then, the WWE gave him the United States Title which he defends proudly. By being US Champion, he currently has no reason to chase the WWE Title and there's nothing wrong with that.

Having Lana as his manager helps... As many, like myself, have argued until they were blue in the face, pro wrestling forgot many of its great traditions such as managers. Back in the day, managers were used to assist wrestlers who struggled with personality or microphone skills. In this past year, we've seen amazing contributions from Paul Heyman, Zeb Colter, and Lana to speak for their wrestlers and to get them over. Sorry, but Brock Lesnar, Jack Swagger, and Rusev struggle on the microphone. Yet, thanks to their managerial mouthpieces, the wrestlers were made effective. In the case of the Swagger vs. Rusev feud, they had managers arguing with each other to get that feud over! In the case of Paul Heyman, he can appear and represent Brock Lesnar well without Lesnar even being in the arena.

WWE went hot and early with Rusev, but then the pulled back... In doing so, Rusev could grow as a midcarder and steadily climb the WWE ladder. This allows Rusev to build up an impressive in-ring resume and thus makes him somewhat credible challenger to John Cena at WWE Fastlane. If I were booking that match, I would protect Rusev... Allow him to lose but be a very close call or maybe cause John Cena to submit in the Camel Clutch. You could have something as simple as Lana throwing salt in Cena's eyes. At best, let Rusev win, but I would be careful at letting him outright lose to the usual Attitude Adjustment finisher like any other wrestler who dares to wrestle John Cena.

In my opinion, Rusev having Lana as his manager creates SO MANY opportunities for great storylines in the future. Right now, Lana acts only in the role of a spokesperson without any other reason to be there. But what if, after a match, she kisses Rusev after a victory. What if another wrestler gets the hots for Lana and starts hitting on her? What if the entire WWE locker room starts hitting on her and it causes Rusev to become paranoid? I know, I'm stealing pages from the "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth playbook, but it could add an interesting wrinkle to that relationship. After all, if you're on the road as much as Lana and Rusev are AND you're the only Russians on the WWE roster, it could get quite lonely...

With time, Rusev and Lana could develop into a compelling duo that could legitimately draw for the WWE... Ohhhhhhhhh yeah!

SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE!

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