Daniel Bryan has had a busy week and it’s only Tuesday. Bryan has been in news for publicly going after WWE‘s Money in Bank and the decision to make the first ever Women’s MITB winner a man. Now, Bryan has targeted the actual make-up of WWE.
In an interview with NBC Sports, Bryan covered what it was like to be a father, failing American Alpha, and what his favorite matches are. But for this article we’re going to focus on what he said about WWE and their philosophy:
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“I think a change of presentation is absolutely necessary. I think the way that we present our superstars probably needs to change. Years ago, [WWE] went through with this idea of having as much live stuff as possible on the shows, but I think when you watch say UFC for example, some of the things that are the most endearing, that make you care the most about the fighters are these backstage vignettes that show their real personality. You’ll see great fights that people will cheer maybe because they’re great fights, but the fights that have the most impact are the ones with fighters who people actually care about.”
Bryan would use a poignant reference to further illustrate his point:
“In combat sports, personalities are what draw. Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao was one of the worst boxing matches I’ve ever seen, but millions of people watched it because of the personalities involved.
I think changing that dynamic and highlighting the personalities is something we really need to do. Now, I don’t know how we do it. I think if anybody has a magic answer of what the best way is to present personalities in this modern day of television, they’d make millions of dollars, so I may not have the answer.”
The SmackDown Live GM has some interesting, if not deadly accurate opinions. Personalities in WWE have made and odd shift. Instead of developing characters WWE has developed brands. This is great, but characters change, brands don’t.
There’s been a lot of grumbling as of late when it comes to WWE’s creative process. Current and retired wrestlers have offered helpful critique or scathing opinions, but they’re all saying the same thing: Something isn’t right.
If WWE heeds the observation is an entirely different story. But if they keep coming from within the company, they’ll eventually have to acknowledge them.
