Throughout the modern history of wrestling as a sports entertainment product, success has been found when promoters have most closely blurred the lines of kayfabe and reality. In fact, often times when reality is brought into a story, it brings said story to life and gauges the viewer's interest even more. But how far will a promoter go to sell a story? More specifically, how far are the WWE willing to go?
This is the million dollar question tonight, as a news report on WWE just a couple of hours ago already has the wrestling world buzzing as to its validity. Amidst one of the great endings to Raw in its 17 year history was a short statured, popular indy worker named Bryan Danielson. Known to the WWE Universe as Daniel Bryan, he gained notoriety from his performance on NXT season 1, but moreso after his elimination, when he engaged in a very well sold altercation with announcer Michael Cole. This story was seemingly going to push Bryan and his popularity onto Raw where he could continue to feud with both Cole and his former pro, the Miz. That was all cut short on Monday, as the NXT invasion stunned the wrestling world. At the center of the attack was Bryan, who very visibly choked out Justin Roberts with his tie, spit on John Cena, and told Cena "you are not better than me!" It almost seemed as though Bryan would be an intrical part of this impending story. However, as hinted at the beginning of this paragraph, it was indeed news about Daniel Bryan that shocked the wrestling world tonight.
It was posted just before midnight that Daniel Bryan had been released from the WWE. After selling this storyline further at FCW's show on Wednesday and changing his twitter to bryandanielson because "the winds of change were blowing", it seemed very curious that Bryan was given a release at this time. Almost as soon as the news hit, fans speculated that this may be a work. Perhaps that is hopefulness on the part of many, but this release and the timing of it do seem to be quite interesting. For one thing, it happened Friday night, days after the last time Bryan would have performed and been around WWE talent, and after Smackdown, the last show which could have reported such news before the live Raw on Monday. Many would speculate that if Bryan did something to deserve a real release, conceivably it would have been earlier in the week.
It is also worthwhile to note that the official release read "WWE has come to terms on the release of NXT first season rookie Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) as of today June 11, 2010. We wish Daniel Bryan the best in all future endeavors." In other releases, the "future endeavors" line is generally tagged by the real first name of the performer. As an example, when Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy) was released last year, the last line read "WWE wishes Ken the best in all future endeavors". However, in this one, the performer is referred to by his full ring name, not his real name. A case of oversight or merely a new status quo?
As recently as an hour ago, it was reported that "higher ups" in the WWE were informed of this release before it was posted to WWE.com, leading some to believe it is legitimate. However, one has to question why higher ups would need to be informed of such a decision. Are higher ups also informed when janitors are future endeavored? Considering we, as non WWE employees, are unaware of normal firing procedure, evidence such as this is hardly substantial in our quest to ascertain the truth about this situation.
From purely a fan perspective, this release would come at such an inopportune time, given the current story Bryan is involved with. Some have speculated that this "release" is fake and will lead to Daniel Bryan becoming Bryan Danielson on WWE TV. This is possible, but it did refer to him and Bryan Danielson in the release, albiet not in the future endeavors line. It does seem a work is possible, if for no other reason then the fact that Bryan was involved in such a huge story that grounds for termination in a situation such as that would have to be quite drastic. As soon as we hear more about this situation and its validity, you will know! This release has gotten perhaps the most publicity of any I've seen in my time following WWE, and that includes major talent like Kurt Angle, Mr. Kennedy, Umaga, etc. We will find out soon enough if this is truth or hoax. Until then, let the speculation run rampant!
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