Daniel Bryan Talks Warning WWE About Fan Backlash With How He Was Booked At The 2015 Royal Rumble
Daniel Bryan was interviewed by Inside the Ropes to discuss his time teaming with Kane, and the fan backlash of not winning the 2014 or 2015 Royal Rumble matches.
Bryan felt that his time teaming with Kane as Team "Hell No" was the most important moment of his career, because it helped create a sequence that allowed the "Yes" Movement to grow in popularity and him become a main event star.
"I think the vital part of my career, like maybe the most important part of my career, was [teaming with Kane]," said Bryan. "I mean, there are certain bullet points you can see like, okay, I needed this to happen. Like a certain chain of events for me, of all people, to main event WrestleMania 30. I needed a certain series of events to happen in this specific timeline for it to work. It was very, like, luck type thing. And one of the things was getting paired with Kane."
By 2014, the "Yes!" movement was one of the most popular elements of the entire WWE, with fans in full support of Bryan. However, while people expected WWE was going to fully capitalize on the movement, other plans took place instead.
Bryan commented on these moments negatively affecting the careers and fan reactions of the wrestlers involved. He said that he warned WWE that being eliminated quickly in the 2015 Royal Rumble "isn't gonna work out well for you guys."
"When they told me what was going to happen, I was like, 'this isn't gonna work out well for you guys. But, you can do what you want,'" said Bryan. "Like, I don't run the company, right? If it's bad ? I feel bad for certain people who were negatively affected by that. The year before, 2014, Batista was negatively affected by it.
"So like, I always try to say like, 'hey, I think this is gonna happen,' and sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong. But I think, like in that specific case, like I had said that, like I don't think this is a good idea, and it doesn't matter what I think, right? And so, I just go out there, and I do my job, and I play the hand that I'm dealt with."
In the 2014 Royal Rumble, Bryan was pinned by Bray Wyatt, and did not compete in the 30-man elimination match. Instead, the match was won by Batista, who received a negative reaction heading towards WrestleMania 30. Rey Mysterio received enormous heat in the match as well, coming out as the 30th entrant when fans were rallying for it to be Bryan. The following year, Bryan was eliminated by Bray Wyatt after being in the match for only less than 11 minutes. Roman Reigns won the match, and was heavily jeered.
If any portion of these quotes are used, please be sure to credit Inside the Ropes with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Inside the Ropes