Danielson Fired - Is it Real or a Work?? By Shaun Nichols

As Stuart has already discussed, Bryan Danielson was fired on 11/06 due to choking ring announcer Justin Roberts with a tie on the live 3 hour Raw. Such was the interest in the story of Danielson being fired and the possibility of this being an elaborate angle that the Wrestling Observer website had more new subscribers in a 48 hour period since the Chris Benoit tragedy.
There is several reasons why you can make a case for if Danielson being fired is either real or a work, with that in mind I'll look at why you could be forgiven if you think that Danielson being future endeavored (what a great term by the way) is false.
The first reason is the fact that WWE Senior Producer Kevin Dunn allowed the shot of Danielson choking Roberts to stay on screen for a number of seconds. It is Dunn that has full control from what camera angles are shown on Raw, as he's been in the company for years he will know full well what WWE can show and what they can't. Had Danielson decided to go into business for himself, Dunn would have been able to switch to a different camera as with an 8 on 1 attack going on it was hardly a matter of urgency to show Danielson beating up a ring announcer. The fact that the shot lingered would indicate that the WWE at least at that time didn't see a major issue with what was happening.
Secondly as Stuart mentioned in his piece is that Danielson was a part of the tag team match in FCW, if there was any issue surely they could have used Barrett, Gabriel, Sheffield or indeed anyone to team with Heath Slater.
Thirdly is the Twitter post from John Cena, now if any of the wrestlers could be classed a schill for the promotion it as to be Cena. Yet as the WWE's own website basically tried to bury news about Danielson getting fired, their most popular wrestler is going outside the company line stating that he'll sign a petition and he would like to settle it in the ring. For those interested it seems that Cena gave Danielson permission to spit on him during the beatdown and it wouldn't be something that Bryan would have done without Cena's consent. The only thing to consider is that Cena is not exactly upto date on social networking sites which means someone could have posted on his own behalf. That being said the post at least to my knowledge as not been deleted and if the WWE wants one of their wrestlers to remove a post than that's what the wrestler does. See King of TWITter Matt Hardy for evidence.
Finally the fact that it seems that Vince himself fired him. Bryan was fired several days after Raw it wasn't done at the show where if Vince personally was going to do it that's where it would make most sense. Vince very rarely fires anyone, after all he's got the former Johnny Ace to do that for him. It's never nice to fire anyone and from what I can gather virtually everyone as sympathy for Danielson so it's not like Vince feels that Danielson crossed him and he would get a kick out of it. Also far bigger names than Bryan Danielson have been fired or released and not one of them seems to have got the 'Your Fiirrreed' directly from Mr McMahon.
Onto why it would make sense that Danielson being fired is completely genuine.
The idea that it was one or more Corporate sponsors that were very unhappy with the angle and demanded that the WWE do something about it is I'm afraid is all too real. The WWE have made a big deal that their show is PG and as a result they have attracted a lot more sponsors who in turn have lots of cash. Don't think that Vince is about anything other than making money, he's running a business and that is what he is aiming to do. If he risks losing a multi-million dollar deal or sacking a guy who doesn't deserve it and at least at this stage doesn't mean a great deal to the 'WWE Universe' then that guy is out of the door. You can also add the fact that Linda has secured the Republican nomination and there could possibly have been some pressure applied for political reasons. This hasn't really been mentioned so far but I suppose you can't rule it out completely.
Secondly, Vince has assured all the major WWE executives that this is completely genuine. When I say executives I don't mean that they are in creative. These are the guys that arrange things like TV deals, PPV deals, merchandise and so on. The majority of these guys probably aren't even wrestling fans or follow the product. The idea that if they found out that Vince was working them as well as the fans would lead a number of them to wonder why they were working for a cheap third rate company. Actually this sort of thing happened in the last couple of years of WCW and all those executives that ensured WCW was run professionally for years, realised they were working for idiots and they pissed off and WCW died a quick death.
Thirdly, remember the 'Loose Cannon' gimmick for Brian Pillman in WCW circa 1996? If you are a long term fan, then I'm sure you do. Fans always remember Pillman doing the gimmick with fond memories as you never knew what would happen next. However the important thing to keep in mind is that the company that booked it (WCW) never made any money out of it all and worse yet allowed the wrestler in question to leave the promotion that was pushing him. Surely with that in mind, the WWE would never do anything as stupid.
Fourthly, after the Chris Benoit tragedy there was clear message that was sent out to WWE performers that choking was not allowed. This is something that wrestlers who have been in the company for over 3 years would be aware of. Clearly it is likely that Danielson would not have known about that, after all time as moved on and although the decision to ban choking was a big deal back in 2007 it wouldn't be something you would expect wrestlers to know automatically in 2010 hence why Danielson as so much sympathy within the company.
Finally with the Wade Barrett promo at the start of this weeks Raw (14/6) where he stated that Bryan had been kicked out of the NXT Invasion due to showing regret. A ridiculous statement to make however what it does do is to make it clear that Danielson is gone from this angle. Of course he could be back in a matter of weeks either as a part of the group (meaning yet another swerve) or as a babyface.
It's bizarre that even a few days after his release, virtually all fans still aren't sure if Danielson has really been fired and if he has what was the actual reason why they did sack him. Yes you can say that he was a scapegoat, but why not suspend him, fine him or send him back to the developmental territory. Better yet why not book John Cena to beat him up that badly that he was driven out of the promotion as it would mean keeping him around a matter of another 4 days. I'm sure we will find out the real story in time but for the moment this is clearly the most intriguing pro-wrestling story for a very long time.