On June 7, Raw ran a three-hour show, advertised as Viewer's Choice. For the first 2 and a half hours, it was a non-descript show and I found most of it very boring.
Jericho and Show in a body slam challenge. Ho-hum. The Hart Dynasty against Great Khali and Hornswoggle. So the fans picked the giant and the midget over the Uso clan? More likely, WWE rigged that one. And two days later, I see this new tag team on Superstars? The C show? Way to kill momentum for two young guys!
The dance-off between Santino and Kozlov was a great surprise. The giant, stoic Russian suddenly got over as a big babyface with his dancing "ability" and had the crowd cheering like crazy. I never saw that coming.
The A-Team guest host angle with Dusty Rhodes, Roddy Piper, Gene Okerlund, Ted DiBiase...was pointless and will sell no tickets, no merchandise, and no PPV's.
Then came John Cena vs. CM Punk. As Cena takes the advantage, NXT winner Wade Barrett begins sauntering down the ramp towards the ring. All of a sudden, the seven 7 other rookies from NXT Season 1 attack Punk and Luke Gallows. Then all eight of them enter the ring simultaneously and surround Cena. They beat Cena and then Skip Sheffield kicks TV announcer Matt Striker in the face. Then Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel attack Lawler. The rookies destroy the ringside area and beat up the ring announcers and time keeper and whoever they can get their hands on. Then I saw the image that I thought meant little except to further the angle. Daniel Bryan, who I'm calling by his real name from here on, is choking ring announcer Justin Roberts with his tie in a camel clutch position. Eventually, they all attacked Cena some more and destroyed the ring. Danielson yelled “You are not better than me!” at Cena, kicks him in the head, and spits in his face.
The angle was amazing, surprising, controversial, exciting, and had wrestling fans, including me, buzzing. Eight new starts had been created instantly. For the first time in years, I was pumped for the next Monday to watch Raw.
Then Friday morning, June 11, I see the headline on Facebook:
"WWE has agreed to terms on the release of Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson)."
I thought it was a joke. I figured he would be taken off TV for a week or two and then come back. But he is a veteran, very respected in the locker room, and clearly the most accomplished of those eight rookies. If they're going to have the NXT crew in matches against the WWE pros, Danielson would probably do the bulk of the work along with Barrett and Gabriel. Certainly, he didn't do anything that was overly outrageous in the attack, at least compared to the other seven. As it turns out, when he choked out Roberts with a tie, he overstepped the boundaries. Someone got mad, like a sponsor, or a toy company, or Linda's Senate campaign, or some bigwig shmuck who has stroke. It was apparently too reminiscent of Chris Benoit.
So this is a company where on TV you can run people over with cars, blow them up, set them on fire, break into their house, bury them alive, but choking with a necktie is going too far? Instead of donating to my church or high school or kids who are starving, I'm saving my money up for "Parents Against Necktie Violence." Forget the war, forget the oil spill, it's this necktie violence that is clearly ruining our great country.
What clinched it for me was when I saw Danielson was accepting indy bookings. As much as I would love to see him back in ROH, he's done everything there, except winning the tag team titles. But I don't think he would have much to gain by returning to the indys.
Maybe it is an angle. I admit nothing is impossible. But it seems legit and I am so upset with WWE right now for letting him go. Screw you Vince, screw you Stephanie, and screw you Laurinaitis. You have as much ability to recognize wrestling talent as I do to be the President of South Korea!
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