The ongoing saga of Daniel Bryan and Friends battling the evil corporate machine led by Triple H and the rest of the McMahon family has led to some of the best television WWE has produced in a number of years. The roster, as deep as ever, seems to be clicking in all the right ways with a ton of guys who can really work mixed in with colorful characters who keep you intrigued enough when the workrate isn't there.
The story has been pretty damn good too.
That being said, there's been one major criticism and that's the propensity for those in power, both on screen and off, to absolutely bury the babyfaces. Daniel Bryan may have finally gotten some wind back under his sails, but that was only after he had been thoroughly destroyed on every program for about a month straight. Big Show, a character we're supposed to be sympathetic towards, has thus far been reduced to a broke, dying, crying giant who still has a deadly punch but is too afraid of the repercussions that would come with using it.
Others have been booked into oppression as well, like the group of guys who opposed The Shield this past Monday night on Raw. But even then, most of them were overwhelmed and made to look lesser in the face of the much stronger heel team.
Outside of Big Show, the wrestler who has been subjected to the biggest burial, if we're calling it that, has been The Miz. Let's rewind back to Raw this past week and Stephanie McMahon cutting him down to size:
I'm not sure how that's supposed to make anyone want to see him overcome the evil overlords. The biggest reason? She was being honest, speaking from a place so many fans were already coming from.
Later in the week, Triple H would continue the assault on Miz's character in an interview with WWE.com:
"Again, The Miz. Monday night there was a lot of tension in the air. Miz goes to the ring, Miz does what Miz does, and he runs his mouth, insults the Chief Executive Officer of this company and my wife, an owner of this company I might add; as disrespectful as he can be. And my wife comes out there and says a lot of things about Miz that are true; and the truth hurts. He's not at the level he should be. He's not the superstar that he thinks that he is. What Miz does well is run his mouth. He is a bit of a smart ass. ... First rule of smart ass is you've got to be able to back it up. The difference between Miz and I is when I ran my mouth, I could back every bit of it up. Miz can't. He's never been able to. Miz runs his mouth and when he's met with the repercussion of that action he then cries about it, the WWE Universe cries about it. He said a lot of things that shouldn't be said. He's got a big mouth. And his mouth got shot."
In a traditional sense, a "burial" is when a wrestler is made to job out on television so his character looks weak. This isn't that, but it's most definitely a form of it. After all, if you're given all these reasons to believe Miz is second rate then you're outright told as much, that leaves nothing to suggest otherwise.
Plus, how does the story allow for him to get revenge?
Then again, how much do we care? It is The Miz, after all.