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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW.
WWE Never Saw Bryan Danielson on Roman Reigns’ Level
Make no mistake: Bryan Danielson loved being in WWE and the company loved having him. That said, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer says the company never quite saw him as face-of-the-company material.
“Keep in mind while they absolutely liked him and saw him as a star, even as he saved a WrestleMania and sports teams throughout the country were doing ‘Yes’ chants, they never thought he was the top guy and that Roman Reigns was, because they know more than the fans,” Meltzer said.
This, of course, is obvious to anyone who saw the booking of the two stars. Danielson got over through his brilliance in the ring and as a character, along with the overwhelming willpower of the fans. Reigns got over very much through the WWE machine. WWE saw a superstar in Reigns and gave him every possible advantage—and even then it still didn’t totally work until Reigns’ heel turn allowed him to flip a switch.
In the end, Reigns is absolutely the face of the company WWE saw when they initially put him in The Shield. You can’t argue with the success. That said, it’s fair to wonder if Reigns would have reached these heights earlier in this career if WWE had listened to the overwhelming fan desire for a heel turn.
There are certainly times when fans should be ignored in service of a larger narrative. But WWE’s initial hesitance to push Danielson, along with their stubbornness with Reigns, shows a flagrant disregard for the audience that doesn’t work in modern wrestling.
More Charlotte Flair Backstage News
There has been a seismic dump of negative backstage talk about Charlotte Flair since her backstage confrontation with Becky Lynch at Friday’s SmackDown. The prevailing narrative has painted Lynch in an entirely positive light, while Flair has been seen as an increasingly difficult personality who has alienated herself from her peers.
Alex McCarthy of talkSport provided a somewhat better picture of Flair, saying she wanted to lose the Raw women’s championship to Bianca Belair on last week’s Raw rather than hand it over via title exchange with Lynch. That report notes that Flair is a Belair fan and wanted to put the EST of WWE over in a big way.
Objectively speaking, this would have been a much better plan than the awful segment that concluded Friday’s SmackDown.
It’s just not clear if it’s entirely accurate. Fightful Select reported people in the WWE locker room “challenged” the notion that Flair pushed to lose the match.
Regardless of which side of the aisle you stand on in these conflicting reports, it’s clear Flair has some damage control to do with her co-workers. She’s unquestionably booked as the top women’s star in the division, and many would argue deservedly so. But this recent increase in tensions behind the scenes could impact her spot at the top of the card—especially with someone as well-regarded as Lynch standing in her opposition.
Impact Fails to Land Several WWE Stars for Bound for Glory
While The IInspiration opened the show making their Impact debut, several other former WWE stars were contacted by Impact ahead of Bound for Glory but did not make an appearance.
Fightful Select reported Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt and Bronson Reed were all in contact with Impact ahead of the event. Strowman was widely reported to have met with Impact’s Scott D’Amore just a week before Bound for Glory, and many expected him to make his debut with the company—even those inside Impact.
No deal has been made between the two sides.
Reed was initially booked for the show but was pulled for undisclosed reasons.
Wyatt, meanwhile, won’t make an appearance on any wrestling programming until his non-compete with WWE is up at the end of this month.
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