The Miz vs Daniel Bryan

Back when Michael Cole started his heel turn, he made a little comment about the Miz and Daniel Bryan.  I forget the exact words, but he said something along the lines of how the Miz is a superstar and Daniel Bryan is a wrestler that only internet nerds like.  This got me to thinking about the difference between the two wrestlers.  Despite the fact that these two have totally different styles, they are capable of putting on a great match.  Still they are worlds apart as far as the type of wrestler they are.

The Miz was a reality TV star, and was semi-famous before he got into the WWE.  He entered Tough Enough, then came to Smackdown as the host.  He wrestled as a mid-carder before he teamed up with Morrison to form a great tag team.  They split up and Miz would go on to become the WWE Champion.  The Miz had to fine tune his wrestling skills in front of the world every week on TV in front of millions of people.  What he lacked in pure wrestling ability, he made up in character.  The Miz was great on the mic, could cut fantastic promos, and was someone people loved to hate.

Here’s one of his best promos ever….

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb_jEMFoi_k]

Then there’s Daniel Bryan.  Daniel spent most of his time before the WWE wrestling on the Indy scene, most notably in Britain, Japan, and Ring of Honor, where he was a former world champion.  After years traveling the world and gaining the reputation of being a fantastic in-ring wrestler, he was signed to the WWE.  After getting axed for his actions during the very first Nexus attack, Daniel was brought back, became a huge fan favorite, and eventually became the US Champion.

Where am I going with this…These two represent different ends of the wrestling spectrum.  The Miz, who didn’t spend any time honing his skills on the Indy scene or overseas, was thrown right into the biggest wrestling company in the world.  He also has the size that the WWE loves.  Daniel spent years toiling the Indy scene, was known mostly by internet fans, and is an undersized wrestler; something that has hurt past stars from making it to the main event level in the WWE.

A few months back, the Miz and Daniel had a great match on Raw.  Immediately afterwards, people started clambering for a future main event push for Daniel.  What I would like to do is tell people to not get their hopes up.  Despite the fact that he’s a great wrestler, Daniel is going to have a tough time busting through the glass ceiling.  He is a small wrestler, doesn’t have any mic skills, and really has no gimmick.  The guy walks to the ring to the Superman theme song for crying out loud!

Will Daniel Bryan ever be a world champ in the WWE?  It’s hard to say, but he’s going to have a tough road ahead of him.  Smaller wrestlers like Michaels, Benoit, Jericho, and Angle, have had to push themselves harder than larger wrestlers to get to the main event level.  Daniel is also going to have to work on some kind of gimmick to help him get over.  ANYTHING!  He used to be called the American Dragon, and going back to that would be nice.  He just needs something more appealing that “a guy that’s a really good wrestler.”  Michaels became the Heartbreak Kid.  Jericho was the obnoxious Lion Heart/Y2J.  Benoit was the ultra intense wolverine.  And Angle was a legit gold medalist.

Over time, the Miz was able to develop his wrestling skills and his character into a true main eventer worthy of being a world champ.  I’m looking forward to seeing how Daniel’s career will progress.  His mic skills don’t need to be great, but they need to be better.  And he definitely has to develop some kind of angle for people to get behind.  The underdog gimmick won’t last too long.  I want to see Daniel be a champ, but I’m a realist, and I do believe it’s a few years away.  The WWE loves pushing guys to the top very quickly, but it always seems to be the wrong people.  Giving Daniel sometime to develop is actually a good thing.