By Gary Mehaffy for F4WOnline
Yes! Yes! Yes!
For the last few WrestleManias, that chant rang out loud and clear from the WWE fans. They had chosen Daniel Bryan to be their guy. Not Batista. Not John Cena. Certainly not Roman Reigns.
Daniel Bryan was THEIR guy.
He wasn’t who the company wanted as the top guy; that was always someone else, but the fans had made their choice. And although WWE had cast him as one of the top guys (despite being what some fans thought) he wasn’t the WWE’s top choice as the guy.
Forcing WWE’s hand has obviously happened before. Jeff Hardy was once the most popular guy in the industry. The fans had backed him, and no matter what WWE did to stop it, eventually they went with him as one of their top stars. While they could have done more with him, they allowed to him rise to the top of WWF/E.
Several years later, history repeated itself, and the fans chose Bryan as the uncrowned King of WWE. And his rise was even greater than that of Hardy as he won the WWE title in the memorable main event of WrestleMania 30. Batista might not have liked it at the time as this was meant to be his moment, but it truly belonged to Daniel Bryan.
With Bryan off our TVs for an indefinite amount of time, that leaves a spot open for “the guy fans get behind more than the company does”. We may have got a glimpse at our answer on the post-Wrestlemania RAW, but there are a few candidates in both WWE and NXT:
Dean Ambrose
While I am a huge fan of Ambrose starting in his Jon Moxley years, I can’t see him being the top guy. One from the top, yes, but not the very top. Forget the way WWE has booked him. If he had been given the Roman Reigns push when The Shield split up, he would have been more over than he is now, but I don’t think he would have been the main man. And no matter how well the fans react to him now, it’s just not going to happen.
AJ Styles
This is an interesting choice and may be the right one given that he’s now the #1 contender to Reigns’ WWE title. He has gotten over huge at the house shows despite his 50-50 booking on TV. While the decision makers seemingly perceive him to an extent to be an outsider, there is no doubting his talent. The ovation that he received when he debuted at the Royal Rumble was super. We’ll see what happens over the next month as the build to Reigns vs. Styles truly beings, but he has a great shot at being the fans new choice.
Sami Zayn
This is a tough one…and I don’t want to say what I’m about to say, but I have to. I don’t see Sami getting beyond the upper-mid card in WWE, regardless of how well or how poorly he is booked. I love him as a wrestler and as a personality, but I just think he’s missing that one thing he needs to click with the masses. It’s almost the curse of NXT (shoutout to Tyler Breeze). Speaking of the NXT curse…
Bayley
A strange choice, but I wanted to include her. She is over with the NXT crowd, and for good reason. Could the gimmick resonate with the main WWE audience? I have my doubts because I think Vince McMahon will give up on it as quickly as he starts it. Now, if he stepped aside and HHH was in control of Raw, I think it would be a different matter altogether. (A couple of years ago, I didn’t think I’d be writing that!)
Roman Reigns
Sorry, I couldn’t resist although if (or when) he turns heel, the current WWE champion could become popular and be turned back by the fans without the company being seen as the ones who did it.
Kevin Owens
I think that if they had really gone with him when he first came in, he could have been above Ambrose; not quite the man, but almost the man. I know that’s a pretty big claim to make, and we’ll never know for sure, but this is my column, so I can say it! The fans would really have taken to him as a face and then he could have turned and become the top heel in the business. But it wasn’t to be, I guess.
Shinsuke Nakamura
Hey, stranger things have happened!
Sasha Banks
She is an interesting one. When everyone was hyping her in NXT, I didn’t agree. I wasn’t sure if she could be the top woman in the industry. I just didn’t see it…….And then it hit me. I was wrong. I will say that the WWE does need to give her a chance to develop her personality even more on the main roster than they have already, but she could be a huge mainstream star if given the chance. She is my second choice to be the fan’s new favourite. But who is my first?
Finn Balor
I’m not biased just because he’s Irish and because we have mutual friends. I’m biased because he is just so good at everything he does. From the ring entrance to what he does inside the ring, he is just unbelievable. I know the NXT Champion’s future is unknown as far as where he’ll ply his trade and who will be by his side. But just imagine a feud with Styles. It just writes itself. Even Vince couldn’t mess that one up. Well, hopefully not.
Remember this: when The Shield was together, everybody loved Reigns.Everybody wanted him to be their guy – until WWE management deemed him to be THEIR guy, and at that point the fans turned on him.
So to the fans, I say make a stand, anoint someone new, but as the Knight said in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: “Choose wisely.”