Cook: Let Daniel Bryan Make His Announcement Already

Daniel Bryan has an announcement. From what I understand, it’s the type of announcement that alters careers. A life-changing event, if you will. He certainly seemed excited about it after Extreme Rules. I haven’t seen Bryan this worked up about something since he found out that Chad Gable was his son…

Bryan was originally going to make this announcement on the July 16 edition of SmackDown Live, but was interrupted by New Day. That’ll happen, as any time somebody has a live microphone, New Day aren’t too far away to possibly get some of their own promo time. The announcement was hyped again for July 23…and Bryan was nowhere to be seen. The classic “card subject to change” rule coming into effect.

This tells me that one of two things are true:

1. WWE has no idea what Bryan’s announcement will be, and are dragging it out until they come up with something.

2. There is an idea, but somebody isn’t sure if it’s a good one.

The latter seems more likely to me. Especially since there’s been rumor and innuendo about a particular idea over the past couple of weeks that’s sparking some discussion amongst the IWC Galaxy.

Knowing what I know about Bryan from years of observation through technological devices, he would be all about going to 205 Live. Getting the chance to tear it up with those guys in an environment where he can get away with a little bit more would be something he’d dig. He’s been putting words in for the likes of Mustafa Ali & Cedric Alexander, so it seems that if Bryan could choose one division to elevate to a main event level, it would be the cruiserweight division.

There’s been a slight problem with the cruiserweight division & the 205 Live show since it started…

Nobody cares.

I know that sounds harsh. I also know some folks out there have taken up the cause and will tell you that 205 Live is the best pro wrestling show in the world today. But in the grand scheme of things, 205 Live ranks just above Ring of Honor on the list of things the average Internet wrestling fan cares about.

Most of us moved on during the abysmal early months and never looked back. We hear the hype from time to time from the usual voices, but, man, there’s only so many hours in the day to watch the wrestling. Its going to take more than an Adam Pearce tweet to make me give 205 Live another chance instead of turning on some classic ECW from back in the day.

The default position is not to care. And it’s not like the main roster exploits of Ali, Buddy Murphy & Cedric Alexander have convinced us that the top stars of tomorrow are on 205 Live. If anything, they’ve confirmed the perception.

Now, if Daniel Bryan’s on the show…that’s a game-changer. As much as I love Drew Gulak and don’t mind some of the other guys on the show, none of them are a draw on the level of Daniel Bryan. If you really want people to watch a show, you need wrestlers on there that people want to see.

If I’m Vince McMahon, and I see people leaving the arena every week during these 205 Live matches, I’m wondering why I’m putting them on. What’s the point in having these guys around if most of my paying customers don’t care? I want my audience to care, so how can I make that happen?

The easiest solution (other than firing everybody involved and letting them go to AEW/wherever) is to get somebody involved that might make the people care. They tried that with Enzo Amore for a minute, and it almost worked until he self-destructed. I think we can all agree that Daniel Bryan is more reliable and less likely to self-destruct than nZo or whatever he’s calling himself now Is.

If Bryan wants to go to 205 Live and elevate the brand from mediocrity to excellence, what’s the problem?

205 Live Doesn’t Matter!

Some will tell you that it would be a waste of Daniel Bryan’s immense talents to send him to compete on a WWE Network-exclusive show that nobody watches. Bryan should be in the main event scene of SmackDown and beating Kofi Kingston to take his WWE Championship back any day now. Anything less is beneath Bryan.

That’s a fine opinion to have. But it doesn’t align well with the reality of the moment.

What has Daniel Bryan done since WrestleMania? Dude didn’t even get the typical series of championship re-matches with Kofi, he only got the one on a random episode of Raw. Not even a random episode of SmackDown! He had a reign as SmackDown Tag Team Champion along his buddy Rowan. Which is fine, and resulted in some good matches, but tag teams might be the one thing WWE management care less about than cruiserweights. Elevate the tag team division? Sure, whatever. How many times have we heard that one?

The bottom line is that creative has nothing for Bryan. Sure, it’s ridiculous that WWE has however many writers on payroll and none of them can think of a good idea to keep Daniel Bryan on SmackDown Live every week, but that’s where we are in 2019. If SD creative can’t think of anything for Bryan, why keep him on the sidelines?

This is the part where the hypocrisy of certain corners of wrestling fandom come into play. We want 205 Live to matter. We want the cruiserweights to do well. Yet, when the opportunity for somebody to come to 205 Live and help make that happen comes into play, we reject the idea because it’s beneath that person. We were happy Ricochet went straight to Raw and didn’t get pigeonholed as a cruiserweight. Our fear concerning Johnny Gargano’s eventual call-up from NXT, or Adam Cole’s, or Tommaso Ciampa’s or whoever else happens to be on NXT and in that weight range, is that they’ll end up on 205 Live and become irrelevant.

Maybe it’s just me, but something there isn’t computing. We want all of these guys to do well. We want 205 Live to do well. Yet, we don’t want these guys to be on 205 Live and help raise the brand up another level. What am I missing?

I imagine the delay in the announcement has to do with people within WWE having the argument that I’m discussing here. Some want him to go to 205 Live and help elevate the brand. Others think 205 Live is a lost cause & don’t want Bryan wasted on it. There may even be some folks worried that Bryan will work a style with the cruisers that will get him in some physical trouble. Head bumps, things like that. I understand the concern. However, an old quote from good ol’ Jim Ross pops into my mind when I think about that…

“It ain’t ballet.”

Bryan can get hurt just as easily in a tag team match against Heavy Machinery as he can in a singles match against Tony Nese. If we’re going to make all of our decisions based off of fear of Bryan getting another concussion and forced into retirement, we might as well have kept him General Manager of SmackDown Live and in retirement. As long as Daniel Bryan is able to step in a wrestling ring and do some moves, we should make the most of it, right?

Why not put him in the ring he loves with the type of wrestlers he loves to do the kind of matches he loves?

Let him make the damn announcement already.