Should Daniel Bryan wrestle again: Yes! Yes! Yes! or No! No! No!

WrestleMania XXX
Courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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Brie Bella was recently a guest From the Top Rope podcast along with her sister Nikki. During the interview, the discussion turned to Brie's husband, SmackDown Live General Manager, Daniel Bryan and whether he'll wrestle again. Remember he retired from the ring in 2016 following a series of concussions and medical concerns.

Brie said, "I told Bryan, ‘You do have a daughter, so always remember that. But if the doctors finally give you the green light,’ I say, ‘Go. Like this is your dream and passion. You have one life to live and I will never hold you back -- because I love to wrestle, and I would hate if someone told me you can’t do it. And if WWE doesn’t allow it, then I said, ‘Go somewhere else. It’s all on you.'"

A battle brewing with the Miz???
Courtesy: WWE

At one point, I was holding out hope that Bryan would be able to step back into the ring and wrestle again. He's definitely my favorite Superstar of the modern era. However, after listening to the discussion on the Pro Wrestling Unscripted podcast recently, in my 1-2-3 cents wrestling again may not be the best idea for the former WWE World Champion. 

As the hosts of the show pointed out, damage done to the brain is far harder to recover from than say neck or back injury like Shawn Michaels experienced in 1998. He was able to take a few years off and wrestle again for nearly a decade, returning in 2002. Despite undergoing experimental treatment, I'd be surprised if WWE doctors green light a return for Bryan.

Bryan in 2016
Courtesy: WWE

His doctors have said it's okay for him to return. But unlike WWE physicians, those giving Bryan the thumbs up don't necessarily face the legal pressures a publicly traded billion dollar company does. Besides, if WWE wasn't truly looking out for the health and well-being of Bryan, they'd totally book him to return. There's a ton of cash to be made for all sides with Bryan wrestling again. But it's simply not safe.

I never say never about anything in life, but especially about the wrestling business. The Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy may indeed be what it takes to repair the damaged area of Bryan's brain. It's relatively new, so maybe one day it'll be enough to convince the medical staff WWE employs to say 'come on back.'

Battling Randy Orton
Courtesy: WWE

However, I'm a realist and in my heart of hearts, in all likelihood the next time we see Daniel Bryan wrestle he'll be Bryan Danielson tearing it up on the independent scene. And that's something else to consider, he really needs to cut the intensity of his performances to truly gain some longevity in the business. I don't know if he has that in him to do. I would never want to be told I could never do something I love again, so I sympathize with his desire to wrestle again. It's important to weigh all the options and come up with an alternative because as we've learned before, life simply isn't fair.

Hello Ladies

Charlotte, Becky and Sasha join the Divas Revolution

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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For months fans have been waiting for an overhaul or at least an update in the WWE Divas division.  I think it's fair to say that's exactly what happened on the July 13 episode of Raw.  Three of the best from NXT appeared on the big stage as a part of Paige's Divas Revolution. As I write this Tuesday afternoon, Charlotte, Becky Lynch and NXT women's champion Sasha Banks remain on the NXT roster on WWE's website and are not listed as WWE Divas.

Putting these three young and talented women on the main roster is a breath of fresh air in a often forgotten division.  During the segment on Raw, Michael Cole said "take a look at the future of women's wrestling!"  That statement spoke volumes to me because rarely do you hear the words "women" (it's usually Divas) and "wrestling" (it's usually sports entertainment) on WWE programming.  I don't think the company is abandoning its trademarks, but it was nice to hear a brief break from the norm.

While the presumed transfer of these three women to the main roster is exciting for the division, I do have some concerns.  I hope the moves mean WWE Creative will put more thought into the Divas division, as it seems they focus on just the champion and a particular challenger most of the time.  I also hope that the likes of Natalya and Emma aren't lost in the shuffle.  

Finally, if Charlotte, Becky and Sasha are all leaving NXT, what's next for the few women left there?  Overall that group is so talented but the division is small on NXT.  I understand they're just doing an hour a week as opposed to the five hours the main roster does, plus specials on the WWE Network.  Will Sasha do double duty or drop the NXT Women's title and move on completely?  Time will tell.  I'm going to remain optimistic that it'll be a win-win for everyone involved and hopefully before the end of summer there's a new Divas champion.  Wooo!

Chad's Problem With Survivor Series

Survivor Series 2014
Photo courtesy: WWE

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter

In my “Barely Surviving” blog looking at Survivor Series 2014, I expressed my dislike with the show. After the blog was published I was called out for being too negative and told if I didn’t like it, I should stop watching. Since the blog was quickly written, I think some of my criticism came off as baseless complaining while the reasoning behind the complaint was left out of the thought. I’d like to try and clarify my biggest issue with Survivor Series.

Before I get to that, I’d like to address the “if you don’t like it, don’t watch” comment. I have been a wrestling fan for over 30 years. I have what wrestling fans call “the sickness.” I will watch any wrestling from any promotion because I like wrestling. Because I grew up in a different era perhaps my fandom is a little different than fans whose introduction to wrestling happened during the Attitude Era or later. When I started watching wrestling when it was more SPORTS entertainment instead of sports ENTERTAINMENT. 

Therefore, I enjoy the actual physical wrestling aspect as well as the character/storyline aspect and prefer to see matches that aren’t just signature moves done in order with no rhyme or reason. That’s why right now I see nothing impressive about Roman Reigns. But that’s another blog for another day.

While I enjoy actual wrestling, I do enjoy the storyline aspect and when done well the storyline enhances the emotional attachment to a particular match. Unfortunately this aspect is one that I view as severely lacking in today’s mainstream wrestling and is one of my biggest areas of complaint with WWE. Honestly, I have gotten to the point where I don’t watch RAW in full on a weekly basis due to the lack of compelling story and repetitive nature of the show. Why do I need to see wrestlers fight each other for 3-4 weeks before seeing them fight in a more meaningful match at the PPV?

Just for sake of argument, I haven’t watched a full TNA show is probably at least 9 months. I’ve probably seen one Ring of Honor show in the last year because their product doesn’t appeal to me. I still watch and pay attention to WWE because 1) they have a lot of good talent that I enjoy watching, 2) my123cents was started as a wrestling blog. Even though Kevin writes more about his life now and I’ve started writing about hockey, we built this site on wrestling and will continue to write about wrestling, and 3) I keep hoping for a return to a more enjoyable product.

I will say I hold WWE to a higher standard for entertainment than most other wrestling companies. When you’re the number one company in an industry and have been so for over 30 years, you can’t be making the same mistakes as smaller companies. Is it really sensible to hold Vince McMahon to the same standard as Dixie Carter or Gabe Sapolsky? I don’t think so. That would be like saying Steven Spielberg should be held to the same standard as the guy making local commercials.

Sting helps Team Cena

This brings me to the usage of Sting at Survivor Series. Sting, who had never stepped foot inside a WWE ring before Sunday, was used to show that anything can happen in WWE. I’m not overly excited to see Sting in WWE as most people and I have zero interest in a Sting/Undertaker match at Wrestlemania because I feel that both guys are at least 3-5 years past the point where the match would be good, I understand the appeal of Sting in WWE and have no problem with him having one last run in front of a wide audience. However, his appearance at Survivor Series made zero sense, and that’s my issue with it.

Why did Sting show up? Why did he care if Team Cena won the match? Why was he just hanging out backstage in full wrestling gear? Why did the audio/video guys have a Titantron video and music for him ready to go? Kevin and I have said many times over the last four years that we should stop looking for logic in wrestling. I am willing to accept certain factors simply as “well it’s wrestling.” Stuff like guys bouncing off the ropes on an Irish-whip or not countering signature moves even though they happen in every match and opponents should see them coming are accepted because that’s what makes wrestling wrestling. Some things though just don’t make sense.

If WWE wanted the ending of the Team Cena/Team Authority match to involve a surprise star in order to entice people to order the network under the guise of you never know what to expect, that makes sense. Keep everything the same up until Triple H pedigrees Dolph Ziggler. As Haitch puts Seth Rollins on top for the pin fall cue broken glass and have Steve Austin walk out. Crowd will go crazy as they do when “Stone Cold” shows up out of nowhere. During Survivor Series there were promotions for Austin’s live podcast with Vince McMahon next week after RAW so there’s the reasoning why Austin would be in the building. Austin’s rise in popularity was built on him fighting the WWE authority and having issues with Triple H so there’s a legitimate reason for Austin to have an interest in helping Team Cena win the match. Now, everything that happened at Survivor Series stays the same only this time the story makes sense.

Instead, WWE had Sting show up and if reports are true (btw, I dislike basing anything off of Internet reports. Since I don’t have any sources of my own, unfortunately I have to use unverified reports from time to time.) WWE has no plans for Sting to show up again until maybe the build up to Royal Rumble. So, as was seen on RAW, there was no reasoning given for Sting’s involvement. Sting is just a guy who showed up unannounced, caused havoc and left. To me, this is similar to TNA having Randy Savage, Test or Rikishi show up for a PPV main event and never be seen again. It was done simply to shock fans.

Maybe there is some long term planning here and I’m jumping the gun by being critical. If so, when the time comes, I’ll admit I was wrong. Until then though, I will continue to be critical of gaps in logic in wrestling. Out of curiosity, was there any interaction between Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella or AJ Lee on RAW? You know, since last time he was on TV, Brie was being fired because of her husband and the match at Survivor Series played into AJ kissing Bryan at Wrestlemania 28.

What a Week

21-1

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

I think the week of April 6, 2014 may go down as one of the most historic in professional wrestling.  Some of it good, some of it bad, but none the less, professional wrestling, specifically the WWE has been in the main stream media several times over the past seven days.

SUNDAY:
It all started Sunday at Wrestlemania.  The Undertaker's wining streak at the yearly event came to an end.  I'm still surprised by this, and posted a YouTube video earlier in the week.  

Me when the Streak started

Here's why it's a huge deal to me.  Just think about how long the Undertaker has been wrestling and winning at Wrestlemania.  When he wrestled at his first Mania in 1991, I was a senior in high school.  I'm now 41 years old.  That streak has followed me through college, three different TV stations, three kids, and my entire my marriage.   When I think about it in those terms, it really does blow my mind.  To say he's had 21 victories doesn't really put that emphasis on the amount of time that's behind the record.

Another significant moment out of Wrestlemania of course was Daniel Bryan finally getting his revenge on the Authority and Randy Orton and winning the WWE World Heavyweight title.  His reign is now seven days old and is almost seven times longer than his first two reigns as WWE Champion.

Karen Jarrett

MONDAY:
While not as talked about as the events of Wrestlemania and other WWE happenings, I think the announcement of Jeff and Karen Jarrett's new Global Force Wrestling will have an impact (pardon the pun) on the business.  Personally, I'm curious to see how things pan out.  More announcements are planned in the coming weeks.  So far all we really know is that the Jarretts are starting a wrestling company and they're on the hunt for talent.  Follow @GFWWrestling on Twitter to stay in the loop.

Raw had some pretty cool moments.  I was there, and I think that always makes it more fun.  The crowd loves Daniel Bryan and that's even more obvious in person.  Cesaro announcing he's a Paul Heyman Guy came out of left field.  I like this development,  as we all know Brock Lesnar won't be on every week, and right now the world needs Paul Heyman. Speaking of Heyman, his promo on Raw was one of the best I've heard from him and it helped sell me on the ending of the Streak.

Paige challenges AJ Lee

Paige winning the Divas title was a surprise as well.  She's just one NXT talent to debut on Raw, as Alexander Rusev beat Zack Ryder in his first match on Raw.  Plus they showed promos for the soon-to-be arriving Bo Dallas and Adam Rose.  It's an exciting time for WWE's younger talent right now.

Warrior makes his way to the ring

TUESDAY: 
Tragedy struck when the Ultimate Warrior collapsed and died at the age of 54.  Days later, I am still in shock.  I was fortunate enough to see him get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Saturday night and was in the crowd for his speech at Raw.  Those words seem haunting now.  Warrior, rest in peace and thanks for all the memories.

Eric Young, new champ
Photo courtesy: TNA

THURSDAY:
I don't really follow TNA like I should, but I do want to note that Eric Young has captured the TNA title.  Many are criticizing the move, comparing the quest for gold to Daniel Bryan's.  Since I haven't seen what they've done with Young, I don't think it's fair for me to comment.  I do wish TNA the best of luck and hope that they can become a competitive force in the wrestling wars, as I think GFW is going to be gunning for them.

Brie & Daniel
Photo courtesy: WWE

FRIDAY:
Maybe not major news, but congratulations to Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella on their marriage.  It's been a great week for the WWE World Heavyweight champion.