The Return of Bryan Danielson

So, for most of you, last night's episode of WWE NXT was a bit of a shocker. Due to statements by Michael Tarver and Daniel Bryan, both were eliminated this week when asked last week, "Who do you think should be eliminated next week?" They had both answered that they should be eliminated. It was later stated that the decision came directly from WWE Management and that if they don't have the drive to stay in the competition, they should be eliminated. All of this is pure storyline, of course (I believe that all of these contestants already have contracts with the WWE and NXT is just a different way of introducing new talent).

I could care less about Tarver, who, to his credit, did develop a great heel character in the later episodes. The story here is Daniel Bryan. Bryan was later interviewed by Matt Striker where he said (paraphrased, of course):

"Daniel Bryan's never wrestled in the independent scene. If you YouTube Daniel Bryan, all you see is WWE stuff. He could bring Batista to the limit but couldn't beat a rookie. As far as I'm concerned, Daniel Bryan's done in the WWE. But I do know this guy, Bryan Danielson. He could kick a person's head in, was considered one of the best technical wrestlers in the world, and held championships in Japan, Mexico, and Europe."

This seems to be a very well contrived and well timed scheme to have Bryan Danielson show up on Raw's 3 hour commercial free night next week. Why do I say this? Well, if you had watched last week's Raw, The Miz called out Bret Hart to face him for the US Title on next week's Raw. If you're even in the least bit in the know, you'd know that Bret Hart, even though he performed at WM 26, suffered from a stroke and is unable to truly perform in a match. What does this have to do with Bryan Danielson? Well, it was not a secret that Bryan had an issue with the Miz. It was also not a secret that he was an indy scene monster. My theory is that Bryan Danielson shows up as Bret Hart's proxy for his match against The Miz.

This satisfies four things:

1) Bryan Danielson finally gets to display what he's truly made of.
2) BD vs The Miz would finally satisfy the fans' need to see BD finally beat The Miz's ass and get that title.
3) BD truly gets his shot in the pros for paying the most dues out of anyone in NXT (and some in the WWE, for that matter).
4) BD doesn't have to prove anything anymore in NXT since he's spent 10 years already proving it.

So we're finally going to see the "real" Brian Danielson show up, get the title, kick The Miz's ass, and show the world who he truly is.

If you don't think so, let me know!