WWE Superstar Study: Analyzing the State of Daniel Bryan's Character

Yes. 

It’s one simple, three-letter word that is probably one of the most commonly used words in the English language—yet it’s also one that has helped Daniel Bryan became the hottest act in the WWE and in all of pro wrestling. 

Bryan has, in essence, become the CM Punk of 2012, exceeding most of the expectations that wrestling fans had of him when he first debuted in the WWE in 2010. 

Today, we’re going to take a look at Bryan’s unprecedented rise to the top of the WWE and how it may affect his future in this week’s WWE Superstar Study. 

Where He’s Been 

Bryan’s climb up the WWE ladder started in July 2011, when he won SmackDown’s Money in the Bank match and the guaranteed World Heavyweight Championship shot that came along with it. 

Following his big victory, Bryan vowed to wait until WrestleMania 28 to cash in the briefcase and subsequently went on a losing streak that lasted several months before beginning a TV feud with World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry. 

Bryan would be heavily involved in the World title feud between Henry and The Big Show, even successfully cashing in his briefcase on Henry and winning the World title on the Nov. 25 SmackDown. Or so we thought. 

SmackDown GM Teddy Long revealed that Henry was deemed unfit to compete, so Bryan’s title win was voided. Obviously, at this point, Bryan had failed to live up to his vow of waiting until WrestleMania to cash in. 

He would actually get a title shot in a cage match against Henry on the following SmackDown, but he failed to win. Around the same time, he began getting romantically involved with AJ. 

At December’s WWE TLC pay-per-view, The Big Show defeated Henry to win the World Heavyweight title, but Bryan immediately cashed in after the match and pinned Show to win his first World title in the WWE.

This caused some issues between Show and Bryan, and started leading to a gradual heel turn for Bryan, who began having over-the-top celebrations about his World title win and subsequent wins as well. 

In January 2012, Bryan started acting even more heelish during his matches and disrespecting AJ, which began resulting in negative reactions from the crowd. Bryan cowardly avoided clean finishes in three World Heavyweight title defenses that month and, as a result, was forced to defend his championship in a Triple Threat Steel Cage match against Show and Henry at the Royal Rumble, which he won. 

Bryan would then successfully retain his World Heavyweight title inside the Elimination Chamber, and Royal Rumble winner Sheamus attacked him post-match, indicating that it would be Sheamus vs. Bryan at WrestleMania for the second straight year. 

During this time, Bryan’s “Yes!” chant and gesture began gaining popularity with the crowd, although Bryan was in full heel form as he continuously embarrassed and disrespected AJ. 

At WrestleMania 28, Bryan faced Sheamus in the show’s opening match, but it lasted just 18 seconds after a kiss from AJ distracted Bryan and caused him to lose after a Brogue Kick from Sheamus. 

Bryan’s quick loss perhaps inadvertently led to an incredible rise in popularity of the “Yes!” chants and also resulted in him dumping AJ, whom he blamed for the loss. Although Bryan continued to play the heel role, the evolution of the “Yes!” chants continued and is still ongoing today. 

Bryan, however, would lose his World Heavyweight title rematch against Sheamus in a Two-out-of-Three Falls match at Extreme Rules, ending their feud and Bryan’s pursuit of the title. 

Where He is Now 

While fans seemed unsure of what Bryan’s future would hold after his Extreme Rules loss, it didn’t take long to figure that out. 

The next night on Raw, Bryan beat Jerry Lawler with the fastest time in a Beat the Clock challenge to become the new No. 1 contender for CM Punk’s WWE Championship. 

This would set up an Internet fan’s dream matchup between Punk and Bryan at Over the Limit, who both came up together through Ring of Honor and now will be competing for wrestling’s most prestigious title on pay-per-view in just three days. 

Although Punk vs. Bryan is undoubtedly a huge match, the buildup to it has been lackluster, as there hasn’t been a ton of interaction between the two over the last three weeks. 

Still, their match at Over the Limit should and likely will be a Match of the Year contender between two of the best pure wrestlers in the WWE. 

Where I Think He’s Headed 

Although Bryan is no longer dating AJ, he can’t seem to get rid of her, and that’s perhaps partly his fault, especially after the way he embarrassed AJ on last week’s SmackDown when he told her that he’d now be going after her former friend Kaitlyn. 

Since AJ and Bryan can’t seem to stay out of each other’s business, I think that AJ is bound to interfere in his match with Punk at Over the Limit, with one of three things happening: Either AJ screws Punk out of the title, she screws Bryan out of the title (likely inadvertently) or she interferes and causes some sort of non-finish (DQ, No Contest, Double DQ, etc.). 

It’s clear that AJ’s beef with Bryan is far from over, and I think it’s safe to say that she’s going to stick around in his life for the foreseeable future. 

No matter what exactly happens, though, I think that this Bryan/Punk match at Over the Limit will be one of two or more PPV matches between the two, because Punk doesn’t have a whole lot of challengers, while Bryan doesn’t necessarily have a perfect feud set up for himself on SmackDown right now, either. 

Ultimately, I see Bryan losing at Over the Limit after AJ inadvertently helps Punk win, which will lead to Bryan demanding a rematch and getting one at No Way Out, thus extending this feud for at least another month. 

Being that No Way Out will be centered around cage matches, AJ will not (at least theoretically) be able to interfere in this Punk vs. Bryan match, which could lead to a relatively clean finish. 

Although Bryan is incredibly over right now, I still don’t see him taking the WWE Championship off of Punk, because I expect Punk to hold the title for nearly a year, if not more. 

Therefore, the booking of this feud will be tricky. 

I think Bryan will still end up looking good and putting on great matches, but his rivalry with Punk will likely conclude at No Way Out, though it wouldn’t be a shock to see it run through SummerSlam. 

Where I Think He Should Be Headed 

Last year, we saw a fantastic five-month-long series of PPV matches between Christian and Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship. 

This year, I’d love to see the same between Punk and Bryan for the WWE Championship. 

I’d start the series by having a 20-minute match between the two at Over the Limit, resulting in the dirty finish with AJ inadvertently costing Bryan the match and leading to more tension between the two. This would also extend the feud to No Way Out, where Punk and Bryan would face off in a Steel Cage match. 

Although you would think that a Steel Cage match would prevent any interference, that doesn’t have to be the case, and we could easily see someone interfere in Punk vs. Bryan once again. 

Who would that be? AJ is the logical choice, but given that Punk has sort of reignited his beef with John Laurinaitis, I could see it being anyone from David Otunga to Lord Tensai helping screw Punk out of the title. 

And that’s exactly what would happen. 

The interference (wherever it may come from) would allow Bryan to escape the cage, cause Punk to lose the title and get Bryan some mega-heat for cheating to end Punk’s lengthy title reign. 

The rematch would take place at Money in the Bank, with Bryan retaining (likely through dirty tactics again), seemingly ending the feud. However, Punk would somehow become the No. 1 contender again (perhaps by winning a tournament or battle royal of some sorts) and would face Bryan in a Ladder match at SummerSlam. 

Punk wins that, and then Bryan moves on to a feud with another top star as we head into the fall, likely someone like Randy Orton or even John Cena. 

That’s my crazy idea. But hey, we’ll probably see something crappy like Lord Tensai vs. Punk at SummerSlam instead. 

Final Thoughts

Bryan is ridiculously over right now, so the WWE is going to want to capitalize on his popularity while it can. 

We don’t really know how long these “Yes!” chants are going to echo through the arena or how long Bryan is going to be insanely popular. Thus, the WWE must keep Bryan in the main event for the foreseeable future. 

The dude is loaded with talent and belongs there anyway, so keeping him around the World title picture and main event scene seems like the logical thing to do.

Drake Oz is the WWE Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions (to be answered in the B/R Mailbag) on Formspring.