Welcome to Last Word on Mania month at Last Word on Sports! All month long we will be doing articles to build up for Wrestlemania 31 on March 29, 2015. Be sure to read everything this month by clicking this link. Enjoy!
This is FantasyMania, where he look at a WrestleMania match-up we wish happened and go ahead and book it.
Any wrestling fan worth their weight in championship gold has done their share of armchair booking. It’s always interesting to come up with different scenarios of how an angle could have gone, and there is no better time to fantasy book than WrestleMania. There’s an energy in the air that makes even a simple storyline seem more important, more epic. It doesn’t mean that one has to hate what actually transpired, but just looking at the event and saying “What if……?”
Real History
At WrestleMania XXVIII The Undertaker faced Triple H in a Hell In A Cell match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. It was a fantastic match and the perfect cap to the 5 year storyline that the three men were involved in, but not everyone had a great night at WrestleMania XXVIII. One individual lost his World Heavyweight Championship in 18 seconds, but what if Daniel Bryan didn’t lose the title at WrestleMania? What if he didn’t even win the title in the first place? How would the landscape of WrestleMania have changed for Bryan in 2012? I have a theory.
The Setup
For weeks Daniel Bryan had been claiming that he was going to cash in his Money In The Bank contract at WrestleMania, but he jumped the gun, not once, but twice. His first attempt thwarted by Theodore Long telling him that Mark Henry was not medically cleared and therefore the cash in could not happen. The second, and more successful was when he cashed in on Big Show at TLC on December 18, 2011, but what if Bryan failed again, and what if there was no getting his cashed in briefcase back the second time? His decision to go against his word, had lost him his Money In The Bank briefcase. He had squandered his chance at a WrestleMania moment and had nowhere to turn, or did he?
Daniel Bryan would spend the next several weeks in silence, granting very few interviews, clearly angry with himself. He would turn that anger into determination as the 2012 Royal Rumble approached, steadfast in his quest for a WrestleMania moment, Bryan would believe that the only way to have that moment would be to win the Royal Rumble and finally attain his World Championship dreams.
Unfortunately, the odds were not with Bryan and despite his efforts he would fall due to his overconfidence and be sent over the top rope. Even though he was in the match longer than any other competitor that year, it wasn’t enough. However, instead of becoming angry again, Daniel would become seemingly defeated, a shell of his formerly exuberant self. Even his then girlfriend AJ Lee would leave, saying she couldn’t stand to see him like this. After losing his last chance at a title match at WrestleMania XXVIII and losing his girlfriend, Bryan would come to the ring during a Smackdown to confront the fans and to make a statement.
“Life is full of choices,” Bryan would begin “Some good, some bad. I said I was going to cash in my Money In The Bank contract at WrestleMania, but I didn’t. I cashed it in early, I tried to take advantage of a situation. I made a choice. I still wanted my WrestleMania moment so I entered the Royal Rumble, and I….. well, I lost. I lost the Rumble, I lost my title shot, I even lost my girlfriend. All because I made a choice. I have thought long and hard about my career, about the last twelve years, and where I should go now. Life is full of choices, some are good, some are bad, but it’s choosing those bad choices, knowing they are bad, knowing that the odds are stacked against you, that can make you stronger. That’s why I am challenging The Undertaker at WrestleMania!”
Bryan’s challenge would go unanswered, each week he would come out to the ring and ask to face the Phenom, and each week he would be greeted with silence, until Bryan began utilizing The Undertaker’s own submission, Hell’s Gate, to win matches. With every match Daniel Bryan would gain more and more confidence, goading the Deadman to respond with every Hell’s Gate victory, until finally, at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, after Bryan would once again gain a submission victory, The Undertaker’s answer would come in the form of a lightening bolt in the darkness. The match was on.
With each passing week another victim of the Streak would approach Bryan and warn him that it was a fool’s errand, that he was biting off more than he could chew. The Big Show, Mark Henry, Triple H, and even Daniel Bryan’s mentor Shawn Michaels would each tell him in their own way that this was a bad idea, that The Undertaker was undefeated at WrestleMania for a reason. On that one night, more than any other, he was not human, and he would not only take Bryan to his limits, but he would take Bryan to the edge of his very being, on a journey from which he would never be the same, but Daniel Bryan wouldn’t hear it. With his title dreams out of the picture, at least temporarily, this was his last chance at a WrestleMania moment in 2012. This was going to be HIS WrestleMania moment.
The date would approach, April 1, 2012, the stage was set, it was time.
The Match: Daniel Bryan vs. The Undertaker
Daniel Bryan’s best hope for a win in this match would be to keep the pace fast, being the more agile of the two he would want to keep ahead of The Undertaker. However, if Daniel Bryan has shown anything throughout his career, it’s that he is resilient and even when you think he is down and out with nothing left in the tank, he can still surprise you.
The match would be back and forth and most likely share a similar pace to the match between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels from three years prior, with Bryan using various submissions to try and keep the Phenom grounded. The Undertaker would use his size and power to his advantage but would grow frustrated at the resilience of the young competitor, and that frustration could lead to a mistake. The mistakes are where Bryan would try to capitalize, to seize the opportunity and do what no one had been able to do, beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania.
After sustaining an unbelievable amount of time in Hell’s Gate without tapping out, Bryan would eventually reverse it into the LeBell Lock holding the Deadman in its grasp, keeping him from the ropes until the Undertaker would power out. Before the Deadman could capitalize though, Bryan was on him again, applying Hell’s Gate to The Undertaker. The Phenom was brought down quickly and fading fast, it took everything in him to lift Bryan up and turn the hold into a Last Ride. Both men were showing signs of fatigue, both needing that crucial moment to gain the victory. The Undertaker managed to catch Bryan in Hell’s Gate again, but the stubborn young superstar refused to submit, screaming “NO! NO! NO!” every time the referee asked him if he wanted to give up. Realizing that Daniel wasn’t going to tap out, Undertaker fell back on what brought him to the dance. Daniel Bryan would come closer to breaking the Streak than anyone expected him to, but in the end, a tombstone would seal his fate.
On this night Daniel Bryan may not have won any championships, he may not have broken the Streak, but he accomplished something that some would say is even more rare, he earned the respect of The Undertaker, and that in itself is a WrestleMania moment.
