Howdy, folks! Welcome to ‘Under the Spotlight’, the weekly column where I take a topic from the world of wrestling and discuss it right here on SLTD.
Before we get into it, I would like to express my deepest condolences for Daniel Bryan and his family at this difficult time. As many of you may know, Bryan’s father passed away at the start of the week, just as Bryan was returning from his honeymoon with Brie Bella. I have the utmost respect for Daniel Bryan, for even considering an appearance on Raw just hours after hearing the news.
As if this wasn’t devastating enough, Daniel Bryan would receive more terrible news during the week. His biggest fan, young Connor Michalek, who was suffering from cancer, sadly passed away. The brave little boy was able to meet his hero, Daniel Bryan with help from the Make a Wish Foundation, and got to see his hero win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from the front row at WrestleMania XXX. I know he’ll be deeply missed, and I send my thoughts out to Connor’s family and Daniel Bryan himself as they grieve.
On a somewhat lighter note, this week we got to witness the re-emergence of the Kane we all know and love. A Kane that doesn’t take no for an answer, doesn’t stop until he accomplishes what he sets out to, and has no remorse for the destruction he leaves in his wake.
To open Monday Night Raw, a newly wedded couple in Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella celebrated their return amongst thousands of their fans. A very emotional Bryan stood tall in the ring amidst the Yes Movement, likely paying tribute to his late father with every “Yes!” chant he could muster up.
However, before Bryan had the chance to speak to his people, Stephanie McMahon would make her way to the ring and announce that Bryan would be defending his Championship against Kane at Extreme Rules. She ended by warning the champ to get his “pretty little wife” out of Kane’s way.
With that, the Devil’s Favourite Demon would strike. Despite Stephanie’s orders to stand down, Kane would arrive through the crowd to surprise Daniel Bryan, and lay waste to everyone’s favourite beard enthusiast at ringside. Bryan’s attempts to defend himself would prove unsuccessful, as Kane drove him into the barrier before nailing him with a tombstone piledriver outside the ring.
As if Bryan wasn’t out cold already, Kane decided that one was just not enough. Another tombstone onto the steel steps would surely be the final nail in Bryan’s coffin. Well, in the immortal words of Dean Ambrose… Nope.
Kane would return yet again to ringside to fend off all doctors and medics tending to Bryan. Clearing the announce table, it was easy to see what was coming next. Kane lifted Bryan up once more, and delivered a thunderous tombstone piledriver onto the announce table, subsequently solidifying himself as a monster once again.
I don’t know if there’s a wrestling fan out there that isn’t happy about this. As good as Kane is with his politics and his suits, you can’t deny that he’ll always be at his best when he’s the monster he was born to be. And he proved it on Raw. In one segment, he made more of an impact than he did in six months with the Authority.
The way they handled the segment was perfect too. Had circumstances been different for Daniel Bryan, I’m sure they would have done it later in the night, but they coped very well. Kane was obviously the dominant beast he set out to be, and Bryan portrayed the protective husband perfectly too.
One issue I had was the way Stephanie McMahon handled the segment. Her reactions weren’t exactly believable, although there wasn’t much else she could’ve done in that kind of situation. If it comes to light that she intended for Kane to do this, then it’ll make sense. It is plausible, considering what she said about Brie Bella before Kane’s pyro went up.
But for now, she could’ve put more emotion into the segment. I’m sure watching a man have his neck nearly broken right in front of your eyes is a more horrifying experience than she let on. And as good as it is to see some curse words in there now and again to shake things up, her random “You… Bastard!” did seem a little gratuitous. Again, a bit more emotion may have made it work.
Michael Cole, on the other hand, sold the segment to perfection. The manner in which he told the medics and WWE personnel to “do something” as Kane prepared for his final tombstone, and his reactions to the move were extremely realistic. You could really sense the helplessness in his voice.
Overall, the segment was excellent. A couple of weeks ago (especially after WrestleMania) people would have been laughing at the thought of Kane facing Bryan for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but now I’m actually looking forward to the match. I don’t see Kane winning the gold, but given the history between these men, it’s bound to be a great story told at Extreme Rules.
However, one thing I don’t want to become a constant throughout Daniel Bryan’s title reign is him being the underdog. I think it’s a poor trait for a champion to constantly have. If you have the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, you need to be the top dog, and that’s what Bryan is. So having him portray the underdog in every match wouldn’t work well at all. I’m sure his future PPV title defences will appear to be more of a fair fight, but hopefully this doesn’t go down the road of Rey Mysterio’s title reign in 2006.
I’m not sure what the future holds for Kane once he finishes with Daniel Bryan. Since Roman Reigns is going to be branching out from the rest of The Shield within the coming months, perhaps Kane would make a suitable opponent for him. Beating the monster Kane on Pay-Per-View would be a good way to showcase Reigns’ power and brute-strength.
Regardless of who he faces, we want Kane to stay the way he is from now on. There are a lot more possibilities for this demonic character than the political one. The first being that he actually looks like he belongs in the ring, instead of wearing suit trousers and a vest. Also, you make much more of an impact when people fear you, and Kane hasn’t exactly been the most fearsome of individuals since the start of the year.
I expect Kane’s destruction to continue on Raw this week. They have to make him look unstoppable going into Extreme Rules on Sunday night, and another beat-down on Daniel Bryan may do the job. You don’t want it to be overkill though. You can’t exactly have Bryan half-dead on Monday, and turn around and beat Kane on Sunday. Just do enough to send the message, and maybe have Kane attack someone else like he did on Main Event last week.
I’ll wrap up by saying that it’s good to have the Big Red Machine back. You’ll see a lot of people saying things like “he’ll never be the way he was in the Attitude Era”, but you have to give the WWE props for bringing him back in such a manner. For Kane’s debut, he ripped the door off of Hell in a Cell, and tombstoned The Undertaker. Well, on Raw he tombstoned Daniel Bryan three times; once at ringside, once on the steel steps and once on the announce table. If that’s not reminiscent of his old self, I don’t know what is.
I look forward to seeing the direction in which his character goes over the next few weeks and months. Hopefully (for his and Daniel Bryan’s sake) Kane’s Championship match at Extreme Rules will be the main event, because we want Bryan’s reign to be the main feature on each of WWE’s special events from now on.
That about does it for today, folks. If things seemed short this week, it’s because I’ve been busy getting things sorted for holidays over the summer, and because I’m going to London for the next two days, so I’ve been somewhat preoccupied by that.
If you enjoyed this article, feel free to leave a like on Facebook, tweet the link and leave your comments down below. If you’d like to speak with me about wrestling, my writing or anything in particular, be sure to follow me on Twitter @AdamOB_SLTD.
Thanks for reading!
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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