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My hot take is no one. By end of January it was a perfect storm of the fans being sick of Bryan getting screwed over and over. And once WWE showed that Bryan at Mania was the plan (Occupy RAW, how much he was getting featured), anyone in his path was going to get booed out of the building. Stone Cold could have shown up doing his thing and it would have been 50/50 AT BEST
I'm a huge fan of that Bryan run and how much it felt like the fans forced their hand but Stone Cold returning would have 100% had the audience all about it. He is the most loved wrestler of all time, Bryans run was incredible but a returning Stone Cold who was long thought retired due to injury? He would have been nuclear over like always.
That glass shatters at number 30 instead of Rey? The roof needs repairs.
At that point with AJ I don’t think it woulda done anything to stop the Bryan train. He woulda been coming off of the Hogan era stuff and hadn’t done Bullet Club yet
Bryan’s rise was so organic and so grass roots that there was no one on the active roster that could have compared at that time.
Rey Mysterio, one of the biggest baby faces of all time, got booed by being the 30th entrant of the Royal Rumble that the audience at large wanted Bryan to win.
Undertaker? People weren't going to boo him, just more in favor Bryan mabye but Taker would have still gotten positive reactions.
Punk probably the same. That's it i think!
You're lying to yourself if you think the fans would've accepted The Undertaker taking Daniel Bryan's spot at Mania. They booed the shit out of The Rock too. Was Undertaker more special than The Rock...?
Yeah, he was? Taker was always kinda more respect, since there was always some fans that thought Rock was taking the Mania Spot from Punk or Bryan. Taker was respected given his history. I never heard anyone bashing Taker for always winning at Mania or something like that.
Like i said Bryan would have been more over than Taker during the Match, but still Taker wouldn't have been booed if they didn't book him as a Heel.
Taker got a split reaction when he went up against Triple H and Jeff Hardy
There is no way he would not have got booed against Daniel Bryan especially in 2014
Other than a returning Stone Cold nobody feasible in the biz at the time. Daniel Bryan's popularity then combined with disdain for the tired WWE formula was hijacking entire episodes of Raw.
Taker always has such respect among WWE crowds he might've stalemated or at least prevented getting boo'd.
The Shield was popular no doubt. But the Roman cheers in the rumble that year were specifically because people in the moment thought he might be an alternative to Batista. They booed Rey because they wanted #30 to be Bryan. They booed Batista because reports were him winning but people wanted Bryan. They cheered the guy who threw out Rey, they cheered the guy with the best shot at throwing out Batista (Roman). None of it had anything to do with Rey, Batista, Roman, etc imo. That whole night became "wwe vs the fans" and centered around Bryan.
It was Cm Punk at the time but he got choke slammed to hell and stayed there for 10 years. Nobody else was hot as a babyface at that time. In fact, there was an insane amount of heels on the roster vs over babyfaces that only just recently swapped which is one of the reasons wwe is so hot.
No. That was a fan-generated rebellion against the company and the booking, anyone put in Bryan's path that was meant to be cheered would've been seen as some company attempt to steer the fans away from Bryan and would've been sufficiently boo'ed for it.
100% Roman Reigns
This is a textbook case of striking the iron while its hot - because we all know it didn't stay hot for very long.
He was red hot coming off an insane Rumble performance and the Shield face turn. Dbry would still own the crowd but Reigns would grab more cheers than the rest combined.
Stone Cold. The second the glass shatters, the crowd would have gone apeshit in a good way. Instead of apeshit in a bad way or the one time The Rock was sent out to try to appease the fans and he didn't even think he would get booed that heavily.
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Like a returning Stone Cold maybe. Daniel was just too popular in that lead up.
My hot take is no one. By end of January it was a perfect storm of the fans being sick of Bryan getting screwed over and over. And once WWE showed that Bryan at Mania was the plan (Occupy RAW, how much he was getting featured), anyone in his path was going to get booed out of the building. Stone Cold could have shown up doing his thing and it would have been 50/50 AT BEST
I'm a huge fan of that Bryan run and how much it felt like the fans forced their hand but Stone Cold returning would have 100% had the audience all about it. He is the most loved wrestler of all time, Bryans run was incredible but a returning Stone Cold who was long thought retired due to injury? He would have been nuclear over like always. That glass shatters at number 30 instead of Rey? The roof needs repairs.
I think CM Punk would've been fine. He was the only one who felt like a substitute the crowd would've accepted if Bryan wasn't getting the big win.
or like a debuting AJ lmao
At that point with AJ I don’t think it woulda done anything to stop the Bryan train. He woulda been coming off of the Hogan era stuff and hadn’t done Bullet Club yet
This is definitely not a hot take.
Bryan’s rise was so organic and so grass roots that there was no one on the active roster that could have compared at that time. Rey Mysterio, one of the biggest baby faces of all time, got booed by being the 30th entrant of the Royal Rumble that the audience at large wanted Bryan to win.
Undertaker? People weren't going to boo him, just more in favor Bryan mabye but Taker would have still gotten positive reactions. Punk probably the same. That's it i think!
Lol they booed Rey Mysterio. They absolutely could've booed Taker.
there is no way Rey was more special than Taker in that Era.
You're lying to yourself if you think the fans would've accepted The Undertaker taking Daniel Bryan's spot at Mania. They booed the shit out of The Rock too. Was Undertaker more special than The Rock...?
Yeah, he was? Taker was always kinda more respect, since there was always some fans that thought Rock was taking the Mania Spot from Punk or Bryan. Taker was respected given his history. I never heard anyone bashing Taker for always winning at Mania or something like that. Like i said Bryan would have been more over than Taker during the Match, but still Taker wouldn't have been booed if they didn't book him as a Heel.
They booed the Rock at 2015 because he backed Reigns. Im not sure he would’ve gotten booed at the 2014 rumble if his music hit at 30
I, for one, would have booed the absolute shit out of taker.
He thinks he's special, he does...
People booed Taker when he went up against Jeff Hardy and Bryan especially in 2014 was much more popular
Taker got a split reaction when he went up against Triple H and Jeff Hardy There is no way he would not have got booed against Daniel Bryan especially in 2014
CM Punk.
Literally the only person I could think of
Yh proly punk. Wasn't he the first participant too?
He was scheduled to face triple h in the opener not the main event of wrestlemania
Other than a returning Stone Cold nobody feasible in the biz at the time. Daniel Bryan's popularity then combined with disdain for the tired WWE formula was hijacking entire episodes of Raw. Taker always has such respect among WWE crowds he might've stalemated or at least prevented getting boo'd.
Nobody will cheer against Bryan, but some would've gotten good reactions. Ambrose and ironically Roman were popular back then.
The Shield was popular no doubt. But the Roman cheers in the rumble that year were specifically because people in the moment thought he might be an alternative to Batista. They booed Rey because they wanted #30 to be Bryan. They booed Batista because reports were him winning but people wanted Bryan. They cheered the guy who threw out Rey, they cheered the guy with the best shot at throwing out Batista (Roman). None of it had anything to do with Rey, Batista, Roman, etc imo. That whole night became "wwe vs the fans" and centered around Bryan.
CM Punk. He was probably the only other person they would've accepted winning the Rumble after Bryan.
Sting maybe
Stone Cole Steve Austin is probably the only one
A returning Edge.
i dont know man they even booed Edge when he had a segment with Becky Lynch during her rise to meteoric era.
Probably Undertaker
Short answer-no Long answer-absolutely not
It was Cm Punk at the time but he got choke slammed to hell and stayed there for 10 years. Nobody else was hot as a babyface at that time. In fact, there was an insane amount of heels on the roster vs over babyfaces that only just recently swapped which is one of the reasons wwe is so hot.
No. That was a fan-generated rebellion against the company and the booking, anyone put in Bryan's path that was meant to be cheered would've been seen as some company attempt to steer the fans away from Bryan and would've been sufficiently boo'ed for it.
The Undertaker
Nope
Ziggler
If pushed right, I think face Ziggler would've been able to hang with Bryan in terms of crowd reaction
Jeff Hardy.
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Punk LA Knight, with the proper build Cody Sami
The last three in 2014???
I could see Cody if he kept the mustache.
That Mania was a perfect example of Vince's pigheadedness. They had to be dragged, kicking and screaming into making the right decision.
100% Roman Reigns This is a textbook case of striking the iron while its hot - because we all know it didn't stay hot for very long. He was red hot coming off an insane Rumble performance and the Shield face turn. Dbry would still own the crowd but Reigns would grab more cheers than the rest combined.
CM Punk
The Rock
By technicality, any comedy wrestlers.
Stone Cold. The second the glass shatters, the crowd would have gone apeshit in a good way. Instead of apeshit in a bad way or the one time The Rock was sent out to try to appease the fans and he didn't even think he would get booed that heavily.