Daniel Bryan's WrestleMania XXX puzzle

Daniel Bryan & Christian

Starting out Monday Night Raw with the six superstars that will fight for the coveted WWE World Heavyweight title at The Elimination Chamber was a decent move on WWE’s part, but it still lacked the makings of a great opening segment for WWE’s flagship weekly show.

The opening segment did have a few highlights to it, like John Cena and Antonio Cesaro having a few words with each other about Cesaro possibly being the future of the company, and of course Sheamus telling both Cena and Cesaro that they would both look pretty funny after Sheamus brogue kicks their teeth in.

Future star power and comic relief aside, this segment still wasn’t all it could have been. The segment lacked electricity and chaos, with all six superstars arguing like little kids over who would get to play with the new toy next. The WWE would have definitely benefited from having some physical spots in this segment.

Even worse than the absence of physicality in the opening, was the promos the superstars cut on their way to the ring. Cena continued to rely on his usual, if you think your good enough to be the face of The WWE, step up, but be warned, you will earn your spot on the top of the mountain, and of course his annoying name drops of Bryan and Cesaro, to get a cheap reaction or two from the crowd.

While the superstars continued to argue, WWE’s director of operations , Kane, made his way to the ring and announced that all six participants in the Elimination Chamber would be in action tonight. He booked John Cena versus Antonio Cesaro for later in the night, prompting both men to exchange glares as the crowd cheered for the upcoming match.

The second match would be Daniel Bryan versus Christian. The WWE Universe didn’t have much time to celebrate the booking however, as Kane announced the match would start right now. Before Bryan could end his heated stare down with his former tag team partner, Christian clubbed him in the back from behind, effectively turning heel, and receiving a heated reaction from the crowd.

The match itself seemed to be focused on Christians new found villain persona, and making Bryan look as valiant as possible heading into The Chamber. Bryan had suffered a apparent shoulder injury during Christians opening attack when he was tossed into the rings steps , and struggled to mount a decent offense as the match went on.

Bryan eventually hit a running kick right into the face of Christian in the corner. He then tried to follow it up with another kick, but was met by a big boot by Captain Charisma. As the match went on, Bryan tried desperately to lock in The Yes Lock on Christian, but seemed unable to do so because of his injury.

The match continued on, with Christian trying to hit The kill switch on Bryan and finish him off, but The Yes Man was able to reverse the second Kill switch into a roll up for the victory on Christian. Kane then rose from his seat at ringside to congratulate Bryan, but then informed The Bearded Warrior that he had one more match this evening. Against him.

Kane dominated the match from the get go by targeting Bryan’s injured shoulder. Bryan did manage a missile drop kick on Kane, but soon found his injured shoulder wrenched against a steel ring post, until the referee was forced to disqualify Kane. The Big Red Monster made light of his actions by grabbing a microphone and sarcastically stating that he knew he was disqualified. The Denver crowd continued their chants of ” You sold out” as Bryan laid at ringside in pain.

Reaction:

The WWE just can’t seem to find equal footing in any storyline they have perused this season. The opening segment wasn’t the worse it could have been, but it wasn’t that much better then listening to Randy Orton bitch to the authority about his matches and title defenses. Having Christian go heel certainly was a surprise aspect for The WWE Universe, but the way it was all planned just had little excitement to it.

The WWE should have given the superstars more time to speak before they were interrupted by another superstar in the chamber match. That aspect gave the segment little build, as each competitor wasn’t really given a fair chance to fire the crowd the up.

Not giving Sheamus and Bryan more time to fire up the audience was a huge mistake as well. The WWE Universe has made it quite clear who they want to hear from, and the WWE let that happen more often, instead of overshadowing him with the likes of Cena and Orton.

As for the storyline, i find myself confused as to what this is all setting up to. The hope is that this is a underdog story that will lead Bryan all the way to the Main Even of WrestleMania, but the reality of the situation seems so much more crippling.

It seems like Daniel Bryan will indeed be taking CM Punk‘s vacated WrestleMania 30 spot against Triple H or someone in the Authority. If that’s the case, then this will truly be a bittersweet show of shows for fans who want to see Bryan in the Main Even come Mania.

As for the match, it seemed to highlight both superstars equally as they head into the Chamber match this Sunday. Christian’s heel turn has made him a much more surprising athlete to watch in the ring. The hunger in his eyes is more visible as heel, then it ever was as a baby face.

Daniel Bryan worked his shoulder injury perfectly during the match, to build up suspense and surprise with the crowd. You could literally hear The Universe gasp in shock and worry every single time that Bryan landed on that bad shoulder. Having Bryan struggle to lock in “The Yes Lock” gave that added touch of making him look vulnerable during the matchup. To the audience, it almost looked like Bryan was running out of options to put Christian away.

Bryan winning by roll up pin however, was not the best idea. I know The WWE wants to make Bryan look like the underdog heading into the Elimination Chamber match, but to make him look weak versus Christian, was a definite mistake. If it would have been Orton, Cena or even Sheamus, the idea of making Bryan the underdog would be a big more believable, in my opinion.

We as fans can only wait and see what The WWE decides to do with Daniel Bryan’s push heading into WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans. It all depends on how the WWE uses this shoulder injury of his at The Elimination Chamber. If they use his injury to build him up as the underdog in the match, he could have a good chance of winning the WWE World Heavyweight title at the end of the night.

But if they overuse the shoulder injury and replace him in The Chamber match with another superstar, then you can pretty much guarantee that Triple H versus Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30 is set in stone.

Even if Bryan does come close to winning the title in chamber match, it will only be used as a ploy to get the crowd excited as the bout comes to a close. He will then most continue to feud with The Authority, and again face Triple H at Mania.