Once you go Bryan...Notes from Daniel's Big Night

While I'm sure I'll have more to say about the amazing push that Daniel Bryan is getting and the crazy good wrestling we saw out of him and his partners last night on Raw, I think GuyInNY pretty much sums up my thoughts:

…if I fantasy booked that even 6 months ago, it would have been called a pleasant but wholly implausible daydream. Instead, it’s really starting to look like DBD might just go all the way.

Meanwhile, I wanted to check in on some industry reaction. Now, most of these are on the WWE payroll, so they're not exactly impartial, but I think they speak to the overall corporate narrative and how high the powers-that-be see his upside. They can also be seen as an acknowledgement that his performance last night was being discussed widely on social media, and a means by which to attempt to encourage the continuation of that conversation.

Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ):

JR also has a blog post that discusses Bryan's night and especially his match with Antonio Cesaro here.

Another legendary announcer, Joey Styles (@JoeyStyles):

Justin Roberts (@JustinRoberts) isn't quite legendary, but he makes up for it by including a pic:

Friend of Best in the World, and a former co-worker of DB and Antonio Cesaro, Colt Cabana (@ColtCabana) had some kind words:

And, better late than never, The Best There Is, The Best There Was and The Best There Ever Will Be (@BretHart) is catching up with a Canadian replay:

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Many in the internet wrestling community were also worried about the wear and tear on the goatfaced killah from working approximately 40 minutes of broadcast time, flying around in three stiff looking contests against some big fellas.

Post match, it also looked like he was either selling or had legitimately banged up his right wing (you can see him holding the arm in Roberts' tweet above).

Well, according to live reports, it was probably mostly salesmanship. Rajah.com and others report that when The Shield attacked during a Mark Henry vs. John Cena dark match after Raw went off the air, Bryan ran in to make the save. He then joined the WWE champion and the World's Strongest Man in a six-man tag match against the Hounds of Justice.

Even if he didn't work much of it or take any serious bumps, that hardly seems like something you'd go through with if half of your SummerSlam main event was legitimately hurting.

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Where does the Daniel Bryan story go from here? It'll be interesting to see how less hipster/college crowds than Brooklyn and Austin react to him, and the shows head to Laredo tonight for a Raw taping and then on to Corpus Christi and Houston for Smackdown recordings.

While he looked like the Energizer bunny last night, how much does he have left in the tank for tonight's match against former Hell No partner Kane - and likely shenanigans with Kane's suitor/nemesis Bray Wyatt?

What do you think, Cagesiders? Is this run of Bryan-centric shows beyond your wildest dreams? Or are you still worried about his getting buried? Or is this just the tip of the future-face-of-the-company iceberg?