PWP Nation’s Bruce Hart talks about the retirement of Daniel Bryan and “getting it” when it comes to being a top babyface
Greetings to all of those who are young at heart, Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day!
I’d like to start by thanking all the well wishers and fans out there for the words of compassion and support for my brothers, Smith and Bret – who have been battling cancer. Bret underwent surgery this past Thursday and I’m told that it went as well as can be expected. His doctors will be re-evaluating him this week and hopefully the prognosis will be positive. As for Smith, he’s still undergoing aggressive treatments and we’re hoping and praying that he can recover.
The big story in wrestling circles this week was the announcement by Daniel Bryan that, due to health concerns, he was having to prematurely retire. Like most of you, I’m sad to see him having to leave, because he was one of the most “over” faces of our generation – ranking right up there with icons like Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan – all of whom not only raised the bar, but each of whom put their own unique imprint on our business.
One of the things that I liked most about Daniel was that he wasn’t some anabolic-ally enhanced, jive talking, pretentious superhero. Instead, he was just an average guy – not that big, not that spectacular or overstated. He didn’t do anything that was particularly awe inspiring or out of the ordinary, but he “got it” – as they used to say, back in my day. “Getting it” was understanding implicitly that even though most fans already had been told that the business was a “work”, they, nonetheless, were subliminally hoping that the wrestlers would somehow convince them otherwise – which is what the great workers had an uncanny ability to do.
A big part of “getting it” was being able to relate to the fans and to make them relate to you. In other words, it’s imperative that you, subliminally, convey to the fans that their cheering, booing or whatever else has a pronounced influence on the outcome of the match – regardless of whatever pre-conceptions they might already have (that it’s a pre-orchestrated work), or whatever else. The bottom line, I came to find, was that the fans, just like the masses who go to church on Sunday, truly want to believe, and it’s your obligation to enable them to.
When I was breaking into the business back in the 70’s, one of the first things my dad and other veteran babyfaces stressed to me was that the two most important things for a baby face to master were the sell and the comeback. I was told that selling was critical, because the average fan tended to be an underdog himself and, as such, they could relate to the trials and tribulations that a babyface was having to deal with. The more adversity – be it in the form of getting screwed by the heels, referees, the Authority or whatever, the more the fans could relate to it – which fuelled their desire to see the face overcome.
The comeback was the other half of the equation and one of the things I learned early on was that the amount of reaction engendered by the comeback was inversely proportional to the amount of sympathy garnered during the sell – something which my dad used to refer to as the “pendulum” theory, because the more you took it in one direction, the more it would come back in the other.
As a somewhat undersized, scrawny underdog type myself, I applied those principles regularly throughout my career and can attest, from a personal level, that they not only work, but in checking out “faces”, not just in the wrestling business, but in other walks of life – such as boxer James Braddock – the Cinderella Man; the 1980 U. S. Olympic hockey team; Buster Douglas or exalted biblical characters, such as David and Goliath and Jesus Christ, it was all about the selling and having to overcome almost insurmountable adversity and then coming back with heart, soul and an indomitable, never say die, fervour that made them so iconic and so compelling.
During my tenure as booker for Stampede Wrestling back in the 80’s and 90’s, I used to impart and constantly emphasize the facets of the sell and the comeback to all of our young, up-and-coming babyfaces, including the likes of my brothers Owen and Bret, Davey Boy Smith, Dynamite Kid, Chris Benoit, Jushin Liger, Brian Pillman and my nephew Harry (David Hart Smith). Most of them, I’m pleased to relate, “got it” and would go on to become some of the most over baby faces in the history of our business. Bryan Danielson, by the same token, got it, as well – perhaps more than any other guy in recent memory – which was what made him so special.
While Bryan’s departure leaves a sizable void in the WWE’s roster, I’m hopeful that some of the other guys on the roster right now have the wherewithal to fill that void, among them, newcomer A.J. Styles – whom I’ve had the opportunity of interacting with in the past and definitely “gets it,” Dean Ambrose, who, like Daniel, isn’t that big or awe-inspiring but has that innate ability to relate to the crowd and to make them relate to him; another dark horse candidate, who’s been misused and chewed up and spit out more than he should have been, but could be re-constituted into the same type of character as Daniel is Dolph Ziggler, who from what I’ve seen, also “gets it” and just needs the opportunity to show what he’s capable of.
I might add that there are other intangibles involved as well, so there’s no guarantee that you can ever re-capture lightning in a bottle, as Bryan has, but, for the sake of the business, here’s hoping that the WWE can.
As for Bryan, I’d like to take this opportunity, as a fellow wrestler and as someone who’s dedicated himself to the wrestling business, to thank him for his monumental contribution to the wrestling business. He’s an inspiration and a revelation to all the underdogs out there – that where there’s a will, there’s a way. I’d like to congratulate him on a job well done and wish him well in whatever endeavours he chooses in his post-wrestling career. Hopefully, he’ll remain on the scene in some capacity, because he should be an invaluable role model and source of practical guidance to the next generation of wrestlers.
Happy trails to you, brother!