Vince McMahon — WWE Universe Facebook
WWE will make a huge mistake if it screws Daniel Bryan out of the WWE title on Aug. 18. In a sign that Bryan will win, Vince McMahon, the real-life majority owner and chairman of the board of WWE, appeared on Monday Night Raw to call Bryan a “half-pint troll” who would be an embarrassment to the WWE if he won the title.
If McMahon is blasting Bryan it’s a good sign that Bryan will win the gold. McMahon loves nothing more than to cast himself as heel and have the good guy get his vengeance in the end. We’ve seen it with Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, The Rock and countless other wrestlers over the years.
At the same time, McMahon gets off on swerving people and believing that he knows better than WWE fans. If he let the fans book his champions, guys like Rob Van Dam, Matt Hardy and Ryback would have been WWE champion. McMahon also doesn’t like small wrestlers. Yes, he has put the strap on guys like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Rey Misterio, but he has never let the average-sized guys hold the title for very long.
Even in storyline Monday night he buried Bryan, calling him a “half-pint,” and actually stooping down to talk to him during a live interview. McMahon doesn’t help his product when he humiliates his biggest star and suggests he’s not legitimate because he’s small.
McMahon is a modern genius who doesn’t get the respect he deserves in television circles, but he needs to get out of Bryan’s way in this storyline.
McMahon is sitting on the cusp of the kind of mainstream attention not seen since the Austin days if he doesn’t mess up the Bryan mania. Bryan is one of the rare wrestlers who appeals to both the hardcore wrestling fans and average fans who just want to have a good time at a WWE show. The WWE has the rare opportunity to put the title on perhaps the best worker in the business. That doesn’t happen very often.
If the WWE can put the title on Bryan, who is a young, and turn Cena heel, the company could be on the verge of the next big wrestling boom period.
But if the WWE keeps the title on Cena, allows Bryan’s popularity to fizzle, the WWE would have wasted a once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity for an industry-changing character and storyline.
Joshua Molina is a mixed martial arts and pro wrestling writer for www.rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECMolina and add him to your network on Google.
