Daniel Bryan, and the new Corporation

Hi folks!

Wow, it's been a long time between drinks. But, I, David J James (The Aussie Mouthpiece), am back once again! Hopefully for good this time! I'm talking to some other wrestling websites, and I will potentially be writing for one, or more very soon, but for now I figured why not put this article up here, on my own blog? Sounds good right?

I should point out, I wrote this a week ago (with the exception of the *edit* paragraph), and already, even only one episode of Raw later, things have progressed again. But, enough of that, enjoy the article!

Since Summerslam, things have changed in the WWE. Randy Orton has finally turned heel after what seems like far too long, and in what most people I'm sure would call a bit of a swerve, Triple H and Stephanie also aligned themselves with Vince McMahon, turning heel as well. I'm sure most people, including myself, thought that Vince was going to be the heel and Triple H would be the guy trying to keep Vince from running rampant over the company once more. 

Now I understand that because this is quite a big change, the WWE really have to show Triple H and Stephanie as being absolutely in control and make us believe that things are different and that they run everything, but for the last 3 episodes of Raw, the final image has essentially been the same. Daniel Bryan, beaten, lying in the ring, with Randy Orton posing with the WWE title, and Triple H (and sometimes Stephanie) smiling with a group of wrestlers watching on from the stage. A little repetitive, don't you think?

Isn't the best part of any storyline the back and forth? Sometimes the bad guy gets the upper hand, but sometimes, isn't the good guy supposed to have a little bit of a win? Even if it's just that he escapes from the clutches of said bad guy? If it's all totally one sided, it becomes predictable and boring. When Austin was champion, McMahon still got the best of him from time to time. You have to keep it fresh, otherwise the audience will get bored, and eventually, if you keep beating down Daniel Bryan, it's going to seem like he really can't win. 

Spoilers follow if you haven't seen this week's Raw (2nd of September 2013)

As it stands right now, they haven't crossed that line intro repetitive-ness just yet. I don't mind that things have ended essentially the same way, because there have been slight differences. Like this week's episode, with the addition of The Big Show's presence, and his struggle with choosing whether to do the right thing for his family versus what he knows is right. It does bother me that they're kind of rehashing a storyline that JBL and HBK had in 2009, where Shawn was broke and having to do things he didn't want to do just to feed his family, and that I think only about a year ago they had Show crying when his job was on the line, but still, it's an interesting addition to the story.

As I was watching the final moments of this week's Raw however, a thought occured to me. Earlier in the show, Dolph Ziggler was basically destroyed by Ryback after Dean Ambrose had attacked him, and Cody Rhodes was fired after losing a match to Randy Orton. I'm sure that moments like this will probably happen more in the coming weeks, however of course in Cody's case, if he's getting married, it's a great way to write him off of TV for a little while. 

But what if a couple more guys get fired, or, if not fired, targeted by this new corporation that seems to be emerging? Maybe this happens over the course of a couple of months, as we near Survivor Series. Who knows, maybe the CM Punk/Heyman storyline gets entangled in the Corporate storyline? There was a little tease of that this week with Triple H speaking to Heyman. Regardless of that, so far, we have Daniel Bryan, The Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, and Cody Rhodes. 

That sounds like a pretty good faction to me. ESPECIALLY if you added in CM Punk at some point. 

An anti Corporation faction. Daniel Bryan and CM Punk as the leader(/s) and the guys going after the title and Triple H, The Big Show as the enforcer and the veteran, and, along with Dolph and Cody as well, maybe as a tag team, the guys who go after The Shield. 

Now maybe this is just because lately I've been watching WCW Monday Nitro from 1996, but imagine if they write Ziggler off of TV for a few weeks, and then he and Cody just start showing up, totally unannounced and they hit the ring, beat up someone (not necessarily The Shield) and then run out through the crowd. Or just turn up, somehow get a microphone (or a bullhorn, like CM Punk did the first week after he was suspended) and give a Scott Hall-esque promo, like the first night he showed up on Nitro. "You want a war? You got one!" Or even just have Cody show up. Why not just re do the beginnings of the NWO angle? People see highlights but, being that it happened now 17 years ago, a lot of people will have forgotten every single thing that happened. And I don't mean right up to when Hogan was shown to be the third guy, of course that wouldn't work in this situation... I just mean in the sense that you show these guys as total outsiders, they're not part of the WWE anymore. 

They could even bring Dusty Rhodes out one night.. eventually he could become a manager type figure for the group even.

But this could continue, maybe CM Punk could be the big reveal a-la Hogan NWO, except of course that this group is definitely not a heel stable. It just feels like what they are trying to do with the story at the moment is basically overwhelm us with how much power Triple H has, and really make it seem impossible that no one man can overcome it. It feels like there needs to be a group.

Here's a far out idea.... Steve Austin. Austin is most identified with the Attitude era, and his main rivalry in that time was with Vince McMahon, standing up to a tyrannical boss, fighting seemingly insurmountable odds at times, yet always finding a way. What if Austin came back as a spokesperson for this new group? It could even lead into the much talked about "one more match" people have been begging to see from him. 

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think the whole group should comprise of guys who have been fired.. it wouldn't work well. You have to keep some believability, and I don't think anyone in this day and age of wrestling would believe 4 guys could sneak into a wrestling event to the point that they could get in the ring without security catching them. But I can definitely believe a couple of guys who have been fired, being let in and snuck into the back, by someone else who still has a job... couldn't you?

So this would go on, just with Cody initially, but then after a few weeks, you bring in Dolph. Dolph and Cody grab a cameraman backstage and promo, saying that they're bringing the fight back to Triple H, they're not going to stand for it, they won't go down without a fight etc, and that their friends are with them and that soon, everyone will know who's on what side. Maybe the next week on Raw, Triple H tightens security so much that there's no way for them to get in, or so it seems, and the final moments of the show are a camera rushing around in the back, only to be led to one or more members of the shield knocked out, leaving questions as to who could've done it, if Cody and Dolph aren't in the building. 

Remember at this point, there would have been no mention of Daniel Bryan being associated with them, or the Big Show. Big Show I think will become the sort of unwilling muscle for Triple H, doing his bidding so that his family doesn't suffer, and Daniel Bryan will be trying to get the WWE Title. And, IF CM Punk is to be involved, there would be no mention of his association either. Cody and Dolph would appear to be acting on their own. I would even go so far as to say they could have Dolph use his real name. I mean, if he's fired from the WWE, why would he still continue to use his WWE name? If it's going to be believeable, especially today with everything that's happened, it has to be, and feel real. Dolph coming out and saying "WWE called me Dolph, but you can just call me Nick" Or something much better than that, would feel real. Saying that he's glad to be rid of the shackles of being stuck with a name like Dolph Ziggler, and that now he can be himself. I'd even have him cut his hair, or dye it or something, really put over the whole idea that Dolph Ziggler was an image that he never wanted, and he did it because the higher-ups made him do it. 

Maybe they could involve the Prime Time Players in some way as well. They're in the spotlight somewhat at the moment and seem to be getting a push, so maybe they could be a part of the faction, especially if CM Punk wasn't a part of it. You'd need more guys to help get it over if you didn't have the presence of an established main eventer. Not that Daniel Bryan isn't one, he's just new onto the WWE Championship scene. To me though, CM Punk makes sense. Look at 2011, he was trying to make change, he was battling against the bosses, and even against Triple H. 

But I digress. So as we get closer to Survivor Series, the other members of this faction reveal themselves, and reveal that it was them that let Cody and Dolph (or Nick) into the buildings. Firstly Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, because it seems like the most obvious fit, and the ones that the fans would pick. To me at this point, Big Show would have all but turned heel, like, we know he doesn't want to be doing what he's doing, but he's getting more comfortable with it, knowing that he's protecting his future. Or at least it seems that way, because the week before Survivor Series (or two weeks before so there could be a slightly bigger build), in a match between Daniel Bryan and the Big Show, with Randy Orton (still WWE Champion) as the special guest referee, the match ends when Big Show knocks out Randy Orton. He then gets on the mic, and reveals himself to be the 5th member of whatever this faction is called, and challenges Triple H to a match at survivor Series. The other 4 members could then go into a 4 vs 4 traditional Survivor Series Match.. The Shield and Randy Orton vs CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Ziggler and Rhodes.

And the rebel faction wins.

So now we have a sort of reverse NWO angle happening, where the invading faction starts as babyfaces, not anti-heroes.

Triple H has to up the ante after the loss at Survivor Series, so what does he do? He turns to an old friend... No, not Kevin Nash. We're not talking about the Kliq here, we're talking Evolution. We're talking about The Animal.. Batista. So with Randy Orton, Batista, and The Shield as the main cast in the new corporation, and Punk, Bryan, Big Show, Ziggler and Cody Rhodes, and Austin as the Manager type figure who can sit there and argue with Vince and occasionally hit a stunner, you've got clear conflicts and what I think would be a great, refreshing storyline.

Now I said Austin's involvement could lead to a match at Wrestlemania. Most people think this match should (and will) be Austin vs CM Punk, and to me it seems pretty logical. They don't even have to turn either of them heel. Just have them disagree with each other a few times and have it cost Punk a couple of matches, maybe one for the title, and then have Punk challenge Austin. If anyone can push Austin's buttons to make him accept, it's CM Punk on the mic. 

Now the other storyline that's been thrown around is that at Wrestlemania next year, we're going to have some kind of match involving Vince McMahon vs Triple H, with Triple H being the heel.

My theory on that, is that Vince is going to be inducted into the hall of fame next year, and that wouldn't really work if he was a bad guy. The match, so the story goes, is going to have "the control of the WWE" at stake, so maybe it's going to be Vince's "retirement" match. But what I've seen is that Vince wouldn't actually wrestle. So my idea would be that it would end up being Big Show, wrestling for Vince, who at some point during this whole thing, sided with the rebels, maybe after realising Triple H is drunk with power or something like that. So he selects The Big Show, and Triple H would either wrestle himself, or have Batista, or maybe Dean Ambrose wrestle in his place. Either way, he wins with the help of The Shield and Batista, and Vince has to leave. 

Then you've got Cody and Dolph, maybe they wrestle for the Tag team Titles, and that leaves Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton for the title. And if it was me, I would have it so that Bryan has come close at other Pay per views, but has been screwed each time. The thing with having CM Punk in the faction is that they can have Punk go after the title so it doesn't get so stale that today's wrestling fans get bored. I would think then, Daniel Bryan could win the Rumble, and then finally at Wrestlemania, just as it was with Shawn Michaels, he finally wins the belt at Wrestlemania 30. 

Now the only thing I haven't added in to this idea is that Cena will be back at some point, and they would probably want him to be involved. Well here's an idea that will never happen, Cena returns, and he sides with Triple H. Maybe instead of Batista or Dean Ambrose, It's John Cena that wrestles with Triple H in his corner. More likely in this scenario, Cena would return and wrestle in Vince's place against Batista, and then you could have Big Show vs Dean Ambrose for the US title. That would also work, and seems like it would fit more with WWE's style, never wanting to touch Cena's character. 

So that's my big idea, that's what I've been thinking about all afternoon since seeing Raw. I'm sure there are tons of holes in my theory that I havne't even thought of, but as I said, I thought this all up in one afternoon.

*edit*

After seeing this week's Raw, and seeing Dolph lose to Bray Wyatt and Goldust's return, I'm thinking Dolph may be moved away from the main storyline. I can't actually remember the last time I saw him win a match which is interesting, but regardless, I did start thinking that maybe what would be good, would be if instead of Dolph, you have Dustin Rhodes (not Goldust), join Cody in the sneak attacks I mentioned earlier, and they, as a duo are the rebels that start this whole crazy story that I came up with.

Of course though, as we know, the WWE powers that be most likely have it all figured out already and it'll be nothing like what I am thinking. This is just me putting my fantasy booking hat on.

Let me know what you think.. would a faction like this work in today's WWE? Could the WWE sustain this storyline for the next 6 months without the fans getting bored? Would the fans believe it? Because after all, that is the most important thing. Let me know by tweeting me at @david_j_james (formerly known as The Aussie Mouthpiece)

And remember.. David J James is where the power lies.