ROAD TO THE GOLD SHOCKER: DANIEL BRYAN TO APPEAR LIVE!
by Dan MIrade
Sunday, October 17th, 2010 * 11:35PM
Good evening wrestling fans! We certainly have a "story" here. . .this isn't anything we expected. . .it wasn't anything we asked for. . .it's as surprising to you as it was to us. . .but there is reason to celebrate, as WWE US Champion Daniel Bryan will be appearing at MWF ROAD TO THE GOLD 2011 Saturday, January 8th at Memorial Hall in Melrose, MA. Bryan will both wrestle and take part in the autograph / photo fanfest. How?? Why?? Let's take a look at this amazing story that shows that maybe there is some good will in this crazy sport:
* On June 7th, Daniel Bryan joined NXT (now Nexus) superstars in destroying John Cena and Monday Night Raw. Bryan was later fired.
* On Sunday, June 20th, President Cena shocked the wrestling world by signing Daniel Bryan, the man that put his son on a stretcher less than two weeks prior, to compete and the take part in autograph/photo fanfest at our 9th anniversary BIG BANG BIRTHDAY BASH September 18th. Traffic on the BOSTONWRESTLING.COM supersite went through the roof and it was a really exciting time for us.
* Sunday, August 15th, WWE SummerSlam in Los Angeles. Team Raw vs Nexus in the main event, and who was the mystery partner for Raw but Daniel Bryan! Talk about a crazy night, I can't remember the last time my phone went wild with text message after text message coming through. The next four days were insane with so much unknown. There were reports that Bryan was going to honor the independent bookings he took while he was gone from WWE, so there was great optimism that his return to WWE was going to help the event.
* Tuesday, August 17th. 3:13AM. "The email." Bryan emailed us late after the Raw taping that night saying he would have to cancel, along with returning the financial deposit sent to him (which he did promptly), and offered help in finding a replacement. Stomach in knots. How do you replace the Cena/Bryan scenario which was likely the most talked about independent wrestling feud/situation of 2010?? It was upsetting to us because he appeared to be keeping almost all of his other appearances, but ours fell upon the eve of the WWE Night of Champions pay-per-view. A very tough pill to swallow. TV, online and print advertising gone to waste. President Cena and I clashed big time over the column I posted detailing the matter (an almost weekly happening lol). Cena loves the fans and will always go above and beyond for them. My relationship with fans has always been a distant one, but one with great respect and admiration, as if we don't have our fans, we don't have a company. While I tried to do everything possible to get Bryan here 9/18, we were also in constant contact with WWE, TNA, wrestling insiders and other friends within the business looking for a quality replacement. In the end, thanks to a great friend in WWE, we were able to bring Shelton Benjamin in as his replacement, leading to one of the great matches in Millennium Wrestling Federation history (and available online now).
* Daniel Bryan was a class act throughout the ordeal. After several conversations back and forth, he offered to autograph the posters we were ready to throw out and tape a video with President Cena to announce his replacement when he was in Boston later in the month.
* Monday, August 30th was another tense day in MWF history. Both President Cena and Daniel Bryan were out of contact before the 900th WWE Raw at the Boston Garden. After everything that had gone on, it was only human for negative thoughts to enter the mind. When we eventually made contact late in the day, we were on to meet at the hotel after the event. Bryan was gracious and I think we talked UFC more than pro wrestling. He signed the posters and taped a few segments with Cena announcing Shelton taking his spot September 18th. We had to delay in posting the video by a day as Cena had to fly to Texas to finalize paperwork with "Mr. Money In The Bank."
* September 18th provided a night of action and memories for the fans on hand. Great, solid action in the ring, interaction with the fans and superstars in attendance. On the 19th, we conducted the Boogeyman Studio Shoot Interview, which was very good and provided an inside look at WWE over the past few years. All around, it was a nice anniversary weekend, but the thought that lingered was "what if". . .
* I spoke with an old friend from my WWF days recently who had an idea for us. We had already had some discussions with WWE over our North Carolina debut November 13th as well as advertising for WWE's Halloween afternoon event in Boston. For a variety of reasons I won't get into on this platform, I sent out a pleasant email Thursday night that led to a shocking result Friday. I awoke to an email from one of the highest ranking officials in WWE asking me to call him. The conversation was a jaw-dropper (literally) and we were informed that Daniel Bryan will fly to Boston from his WWE house show appearance January 7th, will compete and take part in the autograph / photo session at MWF ROAD TO THE GOLD Saturday, January 8th in Melrose, then fly out the following morning to the January 9th Raw house show. Never in a million years did I expect that to be the outcome of the call, believe me. It was a great conversation about how WWE wants to see independents succeed because we're where the superstars of tomorrow come from. It was a refreshing, positive conversation to those that look at WWE as a "monster." I was ready to Tweet about it that minute, but after meeting with MWF officials, I was asked to hold off on making the official announcement until tonight.
So there you have it. . .WWE US Champion Daniel Bryan will indeed be making his way to the Millennium Wrestling Federation when it was thought it would be impossible, as Bryan was supposed to have appeared at his final independent show in early October. January 8th, Santa Claus will deliver a late Christmas present to Melrose! To the fans that joined us on that crazy roller coaster ride this summer and may have been disappointed, we thank you so much for your support and hope you are as happy as we are with this surprise. . .
