WWE SummerSlam 2012: Daniel Bryan Must Defeat Kane to Maintain Momentum

After an impressive rise that has seen Daniel Bryan transform from a mid-card talent to a main-event fixture, he's hit a rough patch heading into SummerSlam. He must get a victory over Kane to avoid slipping even further.

Bryan has fallen into a hole many superstars making their first major foray to the top of the card have stumbled into in the past. He's been pushed too far to go back to the mid-card scene, but there isn't an available feud for him in the title picture.

So the creative team was forced to throw together a match against Kane for SummerSlam in order to keep him relevant while other story lines play out. It's not the ideal scenario for one of the year's biggest events, but it's better than getting left off the card or put in a tag team match.

Kane picked up a victory over The Miz, who's the current Intercontinental champion, on Raw to help build him back into a meaningful character after bouncing around in recent months. His booking since returning with the mask earlier in the year has been all over the place.

That said, he's still a veteran with plenty of clout, which is why he continues to get marquee feuds despite not having a general direction.

His lack of direction is actually good news for Bryan. It means anything other than a victory would be a major surprise. There's really no reason for Kane to win the match, but it holds plenty of importance for Bryan.

It's clear the WWE still isn't totally convinced he can be the main guy on Raw or he would have been given a title run during his lengthy feud with CM Punk. Instead, Punk was allowed to retain each time to keep his extended title reign alive.

Bryan has always had the pure wrestling skills to hang with anybody in the company, but his other attributes have been a little slower to develop. His mic skills have definitely improved over the past year, a big step in the right direction.

There are only a few other superstars capable of getting a crowd more riled up than Bryan and his "Yes!" chants, which have recently changed to "No!" chants. It will take more than that to maintain that type of crowd reaction over the long haul, though.

So while Bryan continues to show his all-around ability with hopes of convincing Vince McMahon and Co. that he can be the lead dog, it's crucial that he keeps winning. A string of bad bookings could ruin the momentum he's built up over the past handful of months.

SummerSlam is one of the biggest events on the WWE schedule. The results will give a pretty solid indication of where story lines are going over the next month or two.

That's why getting a victory is so important for Bryan. Any setback at this point will be troublesome news for him and his legion of fans.