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WrestleMania XXVIII Countdown: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus
By: TH | Posted: 04/01/12


World Championship Match
Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Sheamus


How: Sheamus won the Royal Rumble and chose Bryan as his WrestleMania target.

Heat Check: The roots to this story actually begin in the build to last year's WrestleMania. Daniel Bryan, then plucky, babyface United States Champion, was continuing his run through the WWE midcard with a dominant run with the title until he ran into the brick wall known as Sheamus. They were set to tangle at WrestleMania in a rematch of the RAW tilt where the Celtic Warrior won the belt, but it was mysteriously bumped from the card to the pre-show, where it inexplicably turned into dark match battle royale won by The Great Khali. Weird. Yes, this really has no bearing whatsoever on the current match, but I'd like to think it's a make-good on bumping them last year.

Anyway, Sheamus went on a tear in 2011, establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with for all that is good and Irish, while Bryan came in and out of prominence. His biggest moment in 2011 was winning the Smackdown Money in the Bank briefcase. Well, it was his biggest moment until Tables, Ladders and Chairs (oh my!) when he cashed in said briefcase after promising to hold it until WrestleMania, doing the honorable thing so to speak. Their paths remained parallel until after Elimination Chamber, when Sheamus chose his path.

Since then, Sheamus has been there to keep Bryan in check whenever he tried to weasel out of a match or cheat or do something nefarious. Bryan has been getting his shots in too, mostly via sneak attacks and in tag matches, but this build has been done presenting the usual stuff.

Analysis: I'd say this match will steal the show, but how can a match featuring the caliber of wrestler that will be in either corner steal anything? People are expecting this to be good, so it's more of a sure thing. That being said, I'm afraid that of the two main events and the two title matches, this will get the least time. God forbid Triple H and Undertaker don't get 20 minutes of match time for just laying around. For me, that'll be the only thing that hampers what this match can be.

It'll also be interesting to see what kind of role AJ will play in this match. They could go one of three directions here. One would be to have her maintain the status quo. She's a distraction to use in Bryan's favor, a pretty face to stand on the outside of the ring and maybe there'll be a tease of her throwing herself in front of Sheamus as a human shield. The second would be to have her see that her boyfriend really is a big jerk and go the Miss Elizabeth-after-the-Mega-Powers-explode route. She doesn't necessarily have to go with Sheamus – whether as an independent woman or as the girlfriend of a less jerky Superstar, that loose end can be tied up and turned into another story AFTER Mania. Number three would see her totally embrace her dark side, drop her innocence and play along totally with Bryan's dick heel persona.

I get the feeling option one here will be the likely one, but no matter what direction AJ goes in, I feel like there's a 50/50 shot of her interjecting herself into the finish in some way. As for the match itself, I expect Bryan to bump big and to backlash with some new submission holds (it is his WrestleMania debut, you know). Sheamus will be Sheamus, and that will mean that no matter how long this match is given, it should at least be decent.

Who Should Win: Sheamus should win. My "It's still real to me, dammit!" tendencies will have me rooting like hell for Bryan to retain here, but Sheamus is absolutely the right call. I think he's ready to hold a World Championship again, and I also think they really need to build back the luster of the Royal Rumble.

It's all well and good to have the prize for the Rumble every year be a WrestleMania title shot, but given that this will be the third straight Mania where the Rumble winner isn't going on last AND that the Rumble winner hasn't gone on to win the title in a dog's age, having a match on the card doesn't seem to be reward enough. Again, I really hate having to go into the business side of things here, but they see the buyrates for the Rumble dip or at the very best stabilize from year to year. They panic and feel they have to bring in "name" talent for Mania, which is why two-thirds of the competitors in the top three matches have been in a grand total of five pay-per-view matches since last WrestleMania (out of a potential 48) but are there because they're "names". Whatever happened to building a guy up in earnest, using the Rumble as the final step in the construction of their story and then having WrestleMania be a crowning moment? Sheamus winning here won't be a panacea for those supposed ills, but it'll be a start. They have to take the next step and start going back to storytelling basics, character building and logical procession, but this is WWE Creative. I doubt that'll happen without a shakeup.

Who Will Win: I feel like Sheamus will win here, although since this won't be anywhere near the end of the show, the temptation for me is to say Bryan will win just to give another, non-guest star laden event a big main event to build around. But regardless, pencil me in for a Celtic Warrior win.




Check out new blogs on WWE, TNA, Chikara and more every day over at the home of TH, The Wrestling Blog @ http://wallsofjerichoholic.blogspot.com/


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- TH
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