"I've been reading more of Bryan Danielson's autobiography this past week (I'm still not finished) but it is amazing how honest it is. There are a lot of people who will have a lot of fantasies shattered in this one."
I wonder what he means with fantasies being shattered. Anyways, really looking forward to getting this book. :mark:
EDIT: 05/03
Dave Meltzer spoke about Bryan's book- YES!: My Improbable Journey to the Main-Event of WrestleMania in the wrestling observer radio. He mentioned that it is pretty evident from his book the disorganization in WWE and one of the main reasons why Bryan doesn't get frustrated with how he is positioned in the company is because he is of the view, WWE is simply a parody of pro wrestling.
He also states that while the book is not up to the level of the Bret Hart or Mick Foley's, it is pretty honest for a WWE book and isn't watered down like every other WWE book.
I'm guessing Bryan probably requests to lose/put people over a lot of the time, and many of the losses that we criticise vehemently on here are Bryan's choice?
He actually didn't want to get the title at WM 30, he thought WWE and him were working the crowd so hard that as much as they could have hold on to that moment, the better the crowd and reactions would have been. But WWE shit on their pants.
I read the book. Bryan talks about being unhappy in WWE for the first few years there. Around the time he was holding the MITB briefcase, he says he wasn't making much more money than he did on the indies when you factor in car rentals, hotels, etc. (It wasn't until he started teaming with Kane that he started enjoying his professional career in WWE.)
He shatters the illusion that WWE wrestlers are rich celebs living a glamorous life.
That is interesting. So he finally is making big money and he gets hurt. Life's a bitch sometimes. I am def. getting this book, especially since it sounds very sincere.
This book was already a must get for me, but now my interest is piqued even more.
It'll be refreshing to read Bryan's words and how he pulls the curtains back. I'd rather an honest, even if ugly at some parts, story than a fairy tale just for the sake of it. Not everything is always so black and white.
Looks like the Indies are going to be the next competitors for WWE.(Maybe not television wise, but giving wrestlers options). Thing is if they were smart they would work together and allow talents to travel from Indy to Indy. You don't need a national television deal if you constantly drawing people 3,000-8,000 people. I can understand why mid card guys like Ryder, Kofi, Ziggler-etc.. are scared because they have guaranteed money right now. When you go on the independent curcuit you have to know the right people and hustle.
mid card guys like Ryder, Kofi, Ziggler-etc.. are scared because they have guaranteed money right now. When you go on the independent curcuit you have to know the right people and hustle.
Well, the WWE essentially destroys guys by not letting them have any exposure where they're pretty much unable to sell themselves to the indies as well either.
Once you've made it in the indy scene, people know you in other ways. Whereas, the ONLY way to know WWE guys is through TV and if you haven't been on it or featured in a good way you're not over in the indy scene either -- and you have to start at the bottom there too.
Even though the WWE is supposedly higher up the food chain, it's mostly so for those who draw in the WWE .. For guys like Ryder and Kofi (and dozens others) who are either past their overness in the WWE and are no longer featured in good programs with good fan reactions, they cannot transition to the indy scene either. Even indies now don't really want the WWE's second helpings because of what happened with all the guys TNA picked up and couldn't turn into draws.
Indies pride themselves on creating their own stars and using them to sell to niche markets that want non-WWE talent .. It's a completely different industry.
The best analogy I have is that the best Cantonese (Hong Kong) actors and actresses that are bigger stars than the Will Smiths and Dwayne Johnson's of Hollywood in their own country pretty much never really make it in the States. And it's not all down to ethnic differences.
Yes I remember when someone put a list of how much the wrestlers gain and Bryan on those days wasn't even having one quarter of what they pay to fucking Sheamus.
Bryan has mentioned a number of times how he was the least paid member of Nexus and how little he was taking in after factoring in road costs. Bryan had a bad deal but let's not act like the average guy in WWE is starving.
Meltzer also said that one of the most interesting things in the book was the fact that Bryan knew that the WWE was making fun of him from the very beginning. Meltzer said that some guys don't know that they're being mistreated and made a fool of, but Bryan was very clear on that from the beginning, and hated it.
Interesting. And it's true, WWE has ALWAYS made fun of him. Even during his biggest push (2013-2014) JBL just kept calling him an ugly midget dwarf goatface etc. And that is not good heel commentating.
None of this is anything people shouldn't have already known for years.
It was more people stubbornly putting there heads in the sand and pretending that the obvious thing was mere pessimism and instead putting in their heads that it was some convoluted long-term vision as if WWE was capable of writing a multi-season drama arc. Like believing in Santa.
Perhaps the only surprising thing is him admitting that he was getting screwed on pay, a thing I was harping on him to leave for years ago.
The indies only survive if the the card is good. If it's not, if the card isn't good, you don't get the location.
You don't draw the fans, you don't fill the place, don't fill the place you get cancelled, you get cancelled, you don't get paid, you don't get paid you're living off savings, you're living off savings and get cancelled again, you get replaced.
So when you're a jobber in a televised promotion, you're stable.
More so in regards to the livelihoods and pay that WWE Superstars tend to have
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