Backstage News Regarding Daniel Bryan's Appearance at "Payback"

The latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has provided some backstage news regarding Daniel Bryan’s appearance at “Payback.” According to the report, WWE officials believed that drawing out the “will the Authority strip Bryan of the title” angle until “Payback” may successfully provide the company with new WWE Network subscribers.

The feeling is that the company has put off determining “what will happen to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship” until “Payback” to see if the storyline can garner some new paying customers for the WWE Network. The angle will also continue to the build towards Bryan’s return match with Kane later in June.

During the May 26 edition of “Monday Night Raw,” Bryan told Authority representative Stephanie McMahon that his neck injury is “worse than the medical staff originally thought thanks to Kane.” This portion of Bryan’s response is completely scripted, and merely to put some heat on Kane so that their current program will have some sort of momentum when Bryan returns to the ring.

As of now, Bryan’s first scheduled match that he is due to compete in since undergoing neck surgery will be during the June 24 “Smackdown” tapings prior to the June 29 “Money In The Bank” PPV. However, according to this report, Bryan will likely not compete on “Smackdown” now and his first actual match will be at “Money In The Bank.” Although nothing has been officially stated by the company, Bryan and Kane are expected to work on June 29, possibly competing in the Buried Alive Match that was originally set up for “Payback” on June 1.

Editor’s Note:
I really hope that they do something good with this angle on Sunday. Otherwise, this thing will continue to flop and make everyone involved in it look bad. It already has done some damage to Bryan’s title run. I REALLY hope they have something solid planned.