Daniel Bryan is one of the biggest superstars in WWE history, and whilst that may seem like an overstatement to some it’s most certainly the truth. The guy has – in a lot of ways – revolutionised the way we look at professional wrestling with his run in the company leading to one of the greatest moments of our era at WrestleMania 30.
However, nobody is perfect and ever since he hung up his boots for good, Bryan has been playing the role of SmackDown Live General Manager. Sometimes it’s been good and other times even great, but there have been a few misfires here and there that need to be addressed (Please, for once, put down your knives and pitchforks).
The leader of the Yes Movement hasn’t been decent in his current role, but we question how passionate he is about it in comparison to his actual in-ring career. Obviously, the two things are incomparable in a lot of ways, but there’s a clear distinction between the two roles and Bryan seems to find it quite hard not to wear his heart on his sleeve.
With that being said, here are five things Daniel Bryan needs to change in WWE.
#5 Attitude towards women
When it comes to dealing with frustrated superstars, Bryan has done a solid job in seeming firm, calm and composed. Whether it’s telling them off or booking them in a match they don’t want to in, DB always seems to afford them a certain level of respect. That is if they’re on the male roster as opposed to the female roster.
Whenever Bryan has been forced to deal with situations involving the women, it comes across like he either just doesn’t care about them or he finds them all quite irritating. If you go back and watch segments with him and the female roster, he always looks like he’d rather be anywhere else than with them. It’s quite annoying.
We get it, Daniel...
#4 Cocky nature
Look, if you’re one of the best professional wrestlers in the world we understand why you’d be a little bit cocky. It makes sense considering how much people like Bryan have probably been through over the course of their careers, but that cockiness seems to have manifested into “indie guys are automatically better” mentality.
It's quite subtle, but Bryan will regularly put someone or be a bit arrogant without even realising he’s doing it. There’s clearly no malicious intent behind what he’s saying, but it may just be the wrestling background that Daniel has that made him this way. It’s not the end of the world whenever it happens, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on.
Yes sir, no sir.
#3 Reticent nature when with Shane McMahon
Whenever Daniel Bryan is left to run SmackDown Live on his own, he comes across as a real leader. He deals with the majority of his general manager duties with confidence and expert delivery, all the while managing to run the show in a way that Vinnie Mac himself would be proud of; i.e., until Shane-o-Mac walks through the door.
Whenever the two are either shown on screen together in the ring or backstage, Bryan comes across as being a little bit more reserved. Every so often they’ll claim that they’ve had a disagreement over something, but we never get to see that play out on television. If we see a little bit of friction between the two, it might give Bryan’s character a bit more of an edge.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
#2 One off assault
Throughout the course of Bryan’s ‘rivalry’ with The Miz, every single member of the WWE Universe was waiting for him to snap and finally attack the former Intercontinental Champion. Obviously, due to his injuries, that isn’t the smartest idea in the world, but a one-off assault wouldn’t hurt all too much, right?
If they want to protect his head, he doesn’t even have to do anything too strenuous. If a flying knee is too much to ask for then maybe just a few shots to the head could do the job. One way or another, we’d like to see Bryan get physical just once as opposed to it being teased over and over again for months on end.
Speaking of which...
#1 Wrestling hints
There are three things for certain in this life: death, taxes and Daniel Bryan talking about how badly he wants to wrestle. It’s not his fault for the most part as it’s usually other people who bring it up, but Bryan has brought up his intentions to wrestle following the end of his current WWE contract on a number of occasions.
Nobody quite knows what he’s going to do in terms of either signing on with the company or going elsewhere to wrestle, as it’s only WWE who are preventing him from competing. Either way, we’d quite like Bryan to stop hinting at it one way or another because he’s yet again getting everyone’s hopes up. What a tease.
Bayley gives us a HUGE update on a top Superstar's upcoming return RIGHT HERE.
