Sorry for the long read.

WWE is doing something spectacular with its current storyline. Bryan is the most over guy in the planet right now, yet the company seems to keep holding him down and shoving him into the mid-card. But I think that this is the obvious right thing to do. Take a look at the most over wrestlers that have preceded him.

Hogan, Michaels, Austin, Rock, and Cena.. All took turns in the mid-card for a long time before finally getting that push. Hogan, in an era when wrestling was still considered by many to be real, took a long time to get that Hulkamania push.. Michaels was stuck in a tag team with Marty Jannety for the longest time and when he went solo, it wasn't until years later that he got the shot. Austin (probably the best example) kept getting put down by McMahon for years and years until finally, he got the push and took over pro wrestling. The Rock got the torch passed to him by Austin through their memorable feud together.

Now, Cena is set to do the same thing for Daniel Bryan.

Cena, despite the fact that he is getting booed out of the building almost every night, is still the top draw of the company. The majority of the WWE viewers are kids, and they all love Cena far too much to see him overshadowed by some guy they hardly know. Don't forget, Daniel Bryan was in a tag team with Kane until July, 2013. It's only been 6 months since his solo 'yes' act. The WWE is setting the stage here wonderfully with the Wyatts. Obviously, from the RR, both of them are going to team to fight the Wyatts. I expect that in the process, Cena will turn heel finally, and turn on Bryan, passing the torch to him.

That's the biggest possible fucking maneuver that the WWE can do right now while still securing their kid audience. They need a standard similar to the size of Cena and Bryan is that guy. Until this happens, Bryan will not get the push because they can't remove Cena from the spotlight without passing his fanbase to someone else. This is why the company didn't even bother putting Bryan in the RR. They know what they're doing. They're purposely leading fans away from Bryan to further develop his character and keep fans wanting more.

If The Rock started going over on Austin on a nightly basis, it just would not have worked. The Rock would not have gotten the attention he deserved and he would have become a mid-card star. By putting Bryan down on a regular basis, his fanbase is getting more rabid, more intense, more crazy, and in the end, when they finally give him that big-ass push, it's going to have the same effect of Hulkamania or D-X or Austin 3:16 or Rocky.

I don't get why a lot of people are so upset and saying that they're "done" with the WWE. You're all just whining for no reason. This is the company's mode of operation for the past 40 years. They know they have a huge mega star in-the-making with Bryan. They just don't want to rush him.

Batista winning RR was the only possible option. I can't see who else should have won it.. Roman Reigns is still too green headline Wrestlemania, Punk was too cliche and he has a bigger match in mind with HHH, and Bryan is still being developed for his feud with Cena (to pass the torch). They needed someone who could draw, and I was hoping that it would be The Undertaker, and aside from that, the only other person available was Batista.

Think long term with Daniel Bryan. You wouldn't like it either if he was getting the push far too often and easily. The main reason he's loved by fans right now is the fact that he's falling on hard times despite the obvious talent. In the end, he will emerge and become the company's Hogan, Michaels, Austin, Rock, and Cena of the future.

That's a whole boatload of conjecture with very little to back it up. I think you're giving WWE management way too much credit. This is the group that tried their best to bury Daniel Bryan against Sheamus, only to have the fans revolt and almost derail the push of Triple H's training buddy. That was not intended, not by a long shot.

As for the "passing of the torch" to Daniel Bryan, I don't see that happening, either. He's only a few years younger than Cena, after all. He's probably got less years left as a pro wrestler than Cena because of his style. He'll be out of the WWE before Cena stops being goofy. We're years away from Cena turning heel, if ever.

Daniel Bryan may end up with a real title reign, that's true, but I doubt it will be very long, and that's only if they can't find someone "larger than life". It's quite possible that Roman Reigns will end up passing Bryan in the pecking order within the next year or two.

It also won't be against Cena. They're desperate to hold on to his last shreds of popularity, that's why they removed him from the feud with Punk as quickly as possible. Cena is the least popular "face" of the WWE in my memory and they don't want it to get any worse.

Quite honestly, there is no reason to give the WWE the benefit of the doubt. Their recent track record has more cases of mismanagement than success stories. The attempt to make The Miz a main event guy, the failure to push Ziggler when he was hot, pushing ADR over and over, squandering Ryback's momentum--there are a lot of mistakes there. Perhaps you still have faith after all of that but I'm afraid I do not.

I agree with this post. There are far too many mismanagement that has been taking place in the WWE for years now. I believe, though, that is Vince passing on the torch mainly to Stephanie and Triple H. Favoritism, unfortunately, still run rampant in this organization and even in this business in general.

Stupid thing to do imo, Bryan isn't that young, hes not gonna be around much longer, especially considering how risky he is in the ring.  WWE needs to strike while the iron is hot.

I love bryan but Reigns will be the next face of wwe especially after his royal rumble performance.

Cena the least popular face?

That's delusional. Cena is by far the biggest draw of the company until now. Adults love to hate him. Kids love him. You're only speaking from yourself. When you look at the PPV numbers of Cena headlining, you'll change your mind. Cena is probably the only mainstream guy out there right now (aside from The Rock) who can break into movies, TV shows, and make tons of money on merchandise.

Moreover, the guys you mentioned weren't mistakes either. Think about it.

1. The Miz WAS a main event guy. Back in the day when he was still fresh and cool, people really did like him. Now, of course, he's been shut off into the mid-card coz he got too kiddy.

2. Ziggler has tons of talent and charisma, but he never went over the fans that well. As a heel, he could never generate proper heat. As a face, his fanbase was limited. It was too early for him to be a champion and his character is still too one-dimensional. The only time I ever saw a big pop for him was when he cashed in money in the bank, and that's not something you can replicate on a nightly basis. Face it, Ziggler isn't a main event player.

3. ADR is like the Iron Sheikh back in the day. You always need a foreign heel that everyone will dislike no matter what. WWE pushes him coz he generates consistent heat: not the super heat you get from the really top heels, but consistent heat wherever you go (except Mexico). You need a guy like that to challenge the top faces, especially for filler events in between big PPVs. Think about it, who else would you feed to Cena upon his return? You need a name heel that can put Cena over to keep his reputation intact. ADR solves that problem perfectly.

4. Ryback has no mic skills and has little in-ring skills. WWE gave him a shot against the company's top face and he fizzled out. He couldn't carry a promo to save his life. People keep chanting 'boring' while he talks. The company made no mistake about putting him in the mid-card.

I don't follow wrestling anymore and haven't watched WWF (or E, whatever) in well over a decade, so I don't know much about the specifics of Daniel Bryan, but I don't agree with the analogy since neither Hogan nor Rock spent much time in the midcard.

Hogan was an instant star wherever he went, although he did come up during the tail end of the territory period, and it took him a few years to hit the big time of the WWF. He had a one year stint with the WWF in 1980, which ended when he a falling out with Vince, Sr. over making Rocky III, then went to Japan and the AWA for a time. When he came back to the WWF a few years later, it took him less than one month to beat Sheik for the title.

Rock was similarly picked to be a major star from the get go and won his first WWF title something like three years into his career, and that counts the year he spent cutting his teeth in the USWA. The problem they ran into with him was that they were trying to force him down everyone's throat as this clean cut babyface third generation wrestler at a time when the cool heel (mainly, the NWO) was a big thing, so the fans booed him. Once they turned him heel, it didn't take long for him to get over and from there they were able to successfully turn him back into a face.

Michaels doesn't really seem to fit this, either, nor does Austin, as once McMahon became keen on them they were quickly pushed and never really de-pushed. Both only ran into trouble because of health problems, and in Michaels' case, his drug use and emotional instability. The best example may be Bret Hart, who was always extremely popular and the best worker in the company but only got grudgingly pushed to the top when Vince truly had nowhere else to go before being quickly tossed aside for someone else at the first opportunity (Yokozuna, Nash, Michaels). It made him more compelling and human, as he seemed like the underdog even when he was on top, and that's probably the best thing they could hope to achieve with a guy like Bryan.

Hulkamania didn't start until later. That was a significant amount of time because as you mentioned, territories. Still counts in this example since Bryan has only been solo for 6 months.

Rock was mid-card for a loooong time with the Nation of Domination, hanging around with the IC title in a feud with HHH, etc. He only got the push later on when he got involved with Austin and McMahon.

Michaels wasn't the super super star he became until DX came about, which was much later in his career.

Austin could never get that shot because the McMahon storyline kept forcing him to lose. Bryan is getting the exact same storyline right now with HHH causing him to lose over and over again.

Read what I said.  Cena, as the face of the WWE, is less popular than any other face of the WWE that I can remember.  Is he less popular than Hogan was?  Yes.  Stone Cold, The Rock, Brett Hart?  Yes.  If you think he's more popular than those guys, I don't know what to say.  Like it or not, there are a lot of people who think he's boring and that certainly isn't just me.  Re-watch the match from last night and listen to the fans.  I don't even dislike the guy all that much, he's a decent worker, but to think his popularity compares well with the mega-stars of the past?  No.  Sure, there are some people who "love to hate" Cena, but there are just as many who are simply tired of seeing him in the title picture.  He's where he is because kids buy this merchandise.

Look, if you think the WWE always makes the right move, then more power to you.  That's the land of opinions.  You think they'll have Cena pass the torch to Bryan and turn heel, I do not.  We'll see what happens.

Hulkamania didn't start until later than what? His defeating the Iron Sheik in early '84 was the birth of Hulkamania. Hogan spent like two years in the territories before his first stint in the WWF, and he wasn't even a full time wrestler during that time.

Rock was only in the NOD for about a year. That's not a very long time at all, especially when he was still a rookie who was coming off of a disastrous stint as a face. From greenhorn to WWF champion in three years is the definition of a meteoric rise.

As for Michaels, again your sense of time is probably distorted by your youth as he was in DX for less than a year before he retired for a few years. His career year in terms of a push was '96. But during that year he proved to be so unreliable as a top guy that he was demoted, probably very willingly. Of course he had a long path to being The Man, owing to the fact that he is a small guy who broke in at a time when being a very large guy meant everything. It was only after he upstaged Diesel at WrestleMania XI that Vince fell madly in love with him and decided he was the next "it" boy.

Austin was by far the biggest star the WWF has ever had by the time he started feuding with McMahon, and you shouldn't confuse his being scripted to lose or his not having the belt at a certain point in time (although he had numerous title reigns) with his not being pushed. The whole storyline was that he was constantly being screwed by Vince, so whether he won or not there was no doubt in any fan's mind that he was the top guy and that he should have won. In fact, Austin was so big that putting the belt on him was completely redundant. The belt is in many regards just a prop to say, "Hey, look at this guy! He's the best!" Austin didn't need that.