There’s a difference between being the top guy in a wrestling promotion and being that promotion’s world champion. Case-in-point? Daniel Bryan’s current title reign and position on the card in his first pay-per-view (or “special event”) following his championship victory at WrestleMania XXX.
Whether or not Bryan closes out the upcoming WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view or not is irrelevant. A great example of what I’m speaking of is WrestleMania X8. Anyone who watched that event back in 2002 knows that the legitimate “main event” that evening was the match between Hulk Hogan and The Rock.
Even though that particular bout was positioned third-from-the-top and the WWE Championship match between Chris Jericho and Triple H technically closed the show, “The Hulkster” and “The Brahma Bull” headlined that event.
At WWE’s upcoming Extreme Rules event, which takes place on May 4th at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the main event is already very clearly the bout between The Shield and Evolution, the latter of which officially reunited this past Monday night on RAW.
One could argue that it’s a bit early to criticize the way WWE is handling Bryan’s championship run, but it seems pretty clear to me what’s really going on here.
WWE knew that fans were craving a Bryan title run and furthermore, knew that there was a legitimate possibility that fans would “hijack” their biggest show of the year if they didn’t get it on April 6th.
So they gave it to them.
My question is this: is WWE really “getting behind” Daniel Bryan? Are they really “going with him” right now, or did they simply give the fans what they wanted to shut them up, all-the-while knowing full-well that they don’t intend to truly “put the machine behind him.”
In my opinion, it’s the latter, not the former.
If you really think about it, it’s both funny and sad at the same time. Daniel Bryan finally gets his big “moment” that everyone has been dying to see, and yet the very next pay-per-view — coincidentally enough — the three guys (Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista) he defeated en route to having that “moment” are the trio positioned ahead of him as the true “focus” of the show.
That’s the negative. The positive in all of this is how this impacts The Shield.
If done right, I think the reformation of Evolution can really help get The Shield over on another level. There’s no denying that the group as a collective is a legitimate top-tier act in the promotion today. They’ve established themselves as that much already. I’m of the opinion that if things are booked properly, this will get The Shield over even further, and quite possibly be the beginning of Roman Reigns’ ascension to becoming an individual main event player.
The seeds have already been planted.
Two weeks ago, Roman Reigns spears Triple H. That fact was shown, in slow-motion no-less, on Monday night when highlighting the previous week’s action. By the end of the night, Triple H is standing over a laid-out Reigns, hooting and hollering.
I’ll predict right now that Triple H vs. Roman Reigns will headline this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Of course there’s always the chance that The Shield vs. Evolution battle at Extreme Rules could be changed to an eight-man tag-team match with the addition of Daniel Bryan and Kane on each side, respectively, however I don’t think that’s where things are headed.
I think we’re headed into a situation where Bryan’s program is positioned as second-fiddle behind the program involving Triple H and his buddies.
I guess we’ll find out soon enough!
What do you guys think? Leave your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also hit me up on Twitter @MBoone420 or at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR.
