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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Daniel Bryan – Just Say Yes! Yes! Yes! – Discs 1 & 2

July 21, 2015 | Posted by TJ Hawke

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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Daniel Bryan – Just Say Yes! Yes! Yes! – Discs 1 & 2

Disc 1

The Feature

Watching this after reading Daniel Bryan’s autobiography was both interesting and annoying. Like most WWE in-house documentaries, it basically only pays lip service to his pre-WWE run, and they don’t even focus much on his struggles to break through in the WWE. This is about Bryan’s success in the WWE, which is probably the least interesting story of his career you can tell (in short, it was an accident). They opt to tell this story with talking-head interviews discussing his career while a camera crew follows him around during the week of Wrestlemania. If that sounds familiar to you, that is because that is essentially the exact same gimmick of his autobiography that was released a month (or so) after this DVD was released.

To be fair, the book places the great majority of its emphasis on his career with only a couple dozen pages about his Wrestlemania Week. So, flipping the gimmick on its head is preferable to just copying his book formula exactly. However, they do that by focusing so much on his mindset during the week of Wrestlemania 30…which happened fifteen months before this DVD was released. A lot of the interviews keep kayfabe too, which makes it even more useless to listen to. The fact that WWE is putting this on a DVD as the main feature of a release is a huge disservice to customers in the short term and themselves in the long term. Re-releasing Network stuff on DVD is fine but doing it in this fashion is just low-rent. Kayfabe PPV previews are as ephemeral as it gets, and that is why this was a huge “swing and a miss” from the WWE.

Disc 2

Smackdown
February 8, 2000

American Dragon & Shooter Schultz vs. Brian Kendrick & Lance Cade

This was a dark/tryout match for all these guys. As you would expect from a somewhat lengthy tag match between four guys who were so inexperience, this was a bit of a mess. It was a total movez-fest that actually managed to get surprisingly over. The biggest story from the match was sadly Dragon doing a stupid dive to the floor that gave him a concussion. While this was no good, it was fun in an indie car crash way. (**)

Velocity
January 18, 2003

Brian Danielson vs. Jamie Noble (w/ Nidia)

This is actually a cool match where they managed to squeeze in a fair amount without feeling like the match is rushed. It did not really build to anything special, but it was fun enough given the context. Noble eventually won with a neckbreaker variation. (**3/4)

NXT
February 23, 2010

Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho

The match itself is okay, but there were a couple of real sloppy moments that bothered me when it originally happened and still take away from the match for me now. The match is more “successful” than “good,” which is a bigger priority when it comes to debuts in the WWE. Jericho made Bryan seem like a genuine threat, and his selling for the heel hook was brilliant. Jericho survived and then won quite clean after a Codebreaker and the Liontamer. Bryan of course could have stood to look like a much bigger threat but all is well that ends well. (**3/4)

Watch this match here.

Night of Champions
September 19, 2010

The Miz(c) (w/ Alex Riley) vs. Daniel Bryan [United States Championship]

This is still a really good match that put both guys in a position to succeed. The WWE so rarely does that, and we must celebrate every time it happens. This both made Miz look credible as a wrestler for having a clear/effective strategy (going after Bryan’s left arm) and just having for a good match. Bryan looked right at home, as the match was a blend of the style he worked on the indies with the simpler WWE style. They did some great nearfalls and spots with Alex Riley as well. The only thing missing would have been Bryan’s left arm truly preventing him from doing something important. He managed to sell it well throughout the match though, and the injured left arm story is kind of idiot-proofed because most people are right-handed. Anyway, this was a very good match. (***3/4)

TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs
December 18, 2011

The Big Show(c) vs. Daniel Bryan [World Heavyweight Championship]

The Big Show had just won the title from Mark Henry. Henry attacked Show after the match. Bryan cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and won the title.

Smackdown
January 6, 2012

Daniel Bryan(c) vs. The Big Show [World Heavyweight Championship]

They were actually doing a pretty great job of working around the ridiculous size differential, but this was just an angle disguised as a match to continue this mini triple threat feud. Bryan was doing a believable job of surviving Show and even making it look like he could win clean. Show appeared to be on the edge of victory though only for Henry to shove Bryan for getting in his face. Without meaning to, Henry caused Show to get disqualified. Bryan celebrated like he won the main event of Wrestlemania. (***)

Bryan and Sheamus discussed their Wrestlemania frustrations in 2011 and 2012.

Extreme Rules
April 29, 2012

Sheamus(c) vs. Daniel Bryan [2/3 Falls for World Heavyweight Championship]

The story of the match is quite brilliant. Bryan is on a quest to prove himself in the first fall. Sheamus is not completely overmatched or anything, but Bryan is clearly working on another level. He realizes he cannot quite put Sheamus away though and decides to eat the first fall to do some extra damage to Sheamus’ left arm while he’s caught up in the ropes. The first fall was basically worked at the pace of a G1 match, which is obviously A+. The second fall is just Bryan applying the LeBell lock and making Sheamus pass out. The third fall started with a brilliant twist. Just as you think Bryan is in full control and has the victory in his grasp, Sheamus catches him with a Brogue Kick to kick off the third fall (that is also a great callback to their Wrestlemania match). That evens things up, and Sheamus eventually wins with the Brogue Kick. Sheamus’ win ended up being a bit anti-climatic. That fact could not bring down this great match though. (****1/2)

Money in the Bank
July 15, 2012

CM Punk(c) vs. Daniel Bryan [No DQ match for WWE Championship]

AJ Lee was the Special Guest Referee, as this love triangle was a big story at the time. The match suffers from being stuck in a soap opera storyline that can very rarely make for entertaining television, but almost always holds PPV matches down (see the Summerslam 2000 main event after a very celebrated television soap opera story). Taking AJ Lee out of the match early seemingly was a good idea because it removed a distraction from the match. However, AJ was such a key part of the storyline that it became clear that the finish would involve her. Bryan and Punk then would have needed to tell a story that was simultaneously compelling while AJ was gone and involved her for the finish…and they were not really able to do that. Your enjoyment of the match is basically dependent on how invested you were with AJ fucking with the two of them in the closing stretch of the match. My investment was minimal and thus so was my appreciation of this whole thing. A great effort that is just not all that good when it is all said and done. Their Over the Limit match was leagues better. (**1/2)

Night of Champions
September 16, 2012

R-Truth & Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan & Kane [WWE Tag Team Championship]

This was not much of a match and really just felt like a debut of a new tag team: Team Hell No. They were of course not called that yet, but they managed work *just* well enough together to win the tag titles from the truly forgettable team of Truth and Kofi. As often seemed the case with this team, the match was forgettable despite the act being very over. (**)

Watch some Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson matches for free!

Bryan Danielson vs. Prince Devitt [Their only match.]

Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe

Daniel Bryan vs. William Regal

Bryan Danielson vs. Super Dragon

Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuiness

Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho

Bryan Danielson vs. AJ Styles

Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler

Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black

Bryan Danielson vs. Jushin Liger

Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries