if punk is headlining WM then i think we'll know the walkout wasn't a work. punk has never headlined a wrestlemania, said that was always his ambition and he feels his career is winding down, and since his contract is up this year this was probably his last chance and instead it was given to bootista. said **** this **** and left. wwe sees bootista/orton is as wanted by fans as castration, panics and calls him to come back with the caveat that he'll be in the title match

i do think it was a work tho and there were just too many things since it happened that would confirm it. if i had to guess how it'd be booked (and i fully expect it to be completely wrong), bryan does some promo against h/authority, beatdown ensues, punk runs to make the save, challenges h to a match at wm where if punk wins bryan's in the title match and if punk loses him and bryan are both fired. i mean, if true it's going to be executed moronically at WM (no suspense, ending is already telegraphed for both this match and the main event. where do u even put this match on the card? h isn't going to open the curtain and u need to have enough time between this match and the main event, etc etc)

I'll bet on Bryan not leaving mania as WWE Champion if it's still available. Up to $100.

hahaha POTY.

Why on Earth would the crowd bury Punk? There's just no reason. Even if him walking out was a work, the kayfabe reasoning was because he was pissed at Batista getting the WM main event spot, which is the exact same thing that most of the fans are pissed about.

There's another angle we're all ignoring:

So, would there be a bigger oppurtunity to turn heel than to have someone help batista beat DB at mania? Im not a huge Batista fan, but a Punk/Batista run stable potentially could be interesting and actually maybe make punk a viable heel.

Just spitballing, dont shoot me bros

That would be the rare way to get absolutely everyone against Cena.

Give it up man, trying to be realistic here

Well there's nobody else who would need that heavy of a negative rub to just turn heel. You could do it conventionally with everyone else on the roster.

So current rumors are that Punk is gonna come back and get put into the title match, and will lose in the title match unless he signs a contract extension. Not sure how I feel about that, but guess it's all but 100% that DB won't be in the main event now. The "????" on the rumored card was probably CM punk all along.

6 months??? Is that a typo? Try 6+ years.

Yeah Jim, quit typoing!

Late to the party, but this is blastoff-quality awesome.

Im hoping the crowd mega buries the title match with no Bryan in it. Like even more so than now cos its like "we decided to add someone to the title match you guys!!! it isnt who you want though because **** you".

they really need to move the month key further away from the year key.

I like Bryan, and I was just as pissed off as anyone when he didn't win/enter the Rumble. But I do think he may be a tad over-rated by us and I would be very happy with Punk being added to the Main Event.

Bryan has a great catchphrase that makes it very easy for fans to engage when he is on stage. Without the "Yes" chants though, how over is he really? Why doesn't he sell as much merchandise as CM Punk or John Cena? Why are the quarter ratings with Cena, Punk, Orton, Batista higher rated than those with Bryan? Dave Meltzer says he also does not draw the gate that John Cena does.

Punk in the ME makes sense and as much as I personally would love to see Bryan also in the main event, I can understand why he may not be there.

Source?

We were discussing this earlier in the thread and I still don't know where to find these numbers.

Apparently Meltzer used to post them in his newsletter but has stopped recently with the assumption he's no longer able to get them (which makes sense).

Do you have a cite on Bryan doing bad merch and ratings?

Punk selling low merch and doing terrible ratings was said repeatedly before and even during his big huge title reign. Why do you think he was second fiddle so often?

Either invest in Bryan now because like Punk he will grow (and unlike Punk isn't quitting soon) or Punk never grew in which case why include him in title match?

From Wrestling Observer Supported here.

As for ratings here is a breakdown for 2011-2013 (obviously only 2013 is really of relevance and that just goes to October, but I doubt Bryan would have gone from being a worse draw than The Big Show to being #1 since October).



That said they do say their data set is too constrained to determine Bryan is a ratings failure. But there is certainly not much of an argument that he is a ratings success (unlike Cena/Punk).

I think Punk has done a lot better business for WWE than Bryan has so far. If you look at the numbers above his drawing power (as far as ratings) increased from 2011 to 2013.

I'm not saying Bryan would be a bad choice to add the Wrestlemania Main Event just that Punk isn't a bad choice either.

Thanks for the link; they do have a line graph that specifically breaks down Daniel Bryan after the raw numbers, and while it overall trends positive from 2011 (when he seemed to be a ratings loser) to 2013 (when he became a consistent ratings boost), our last data was negative. Tough to really tell whether that's a result of him being de-pushed or what. I would have a hell of a time subscribing to the notion of Bryan actually being worse for ratings in general than Batista right now, but we just don't seem to have a way of knowing regardless.

I'm definitely surprised by Punk outselling Bryan on merchandise. You would think Bryan would be more kid-friendly than Punk, and I assume that kids drive the biggest chunk of merch sales.

Bryan hasn't had near the opportunity that Punk has had either. Give him the ball for 6 months and see what he can do.

Punk being put in the main event would certainly fail to excite me, and would likely look really dumb creatively since he hasn't been near the title picture in forever, but if they do it then I suppose it's probably an upgrade.

Why is Orton the champ going into WM? Surely there was a better choice even if you wanted the champ to be champ for 4 months going into WM. Were the only choices really Cena, Punk, and Bryan? Surely Cena and Punk (maybe Bryan to) are both better draws than Orton. Both are infinitely more interesting than him. I know Batista gets a lot of credit for making this complete rubbish but Orton's not exactly the man that should headline WM 30 either.

Yeah, Orton's inclusion felt more forgivable when he was just the face of the authority and when it seemed like it had a natural conclusion to the storyline of Bryan finally overcoming him to get the belt for a real reign. As is, he's just...there.