Daniel Bryan continues to be a model WWE employee despite onscreen marginalisation

Earlier tonight on Smackdown, Daniel Bryan was finally made official for the multiple person Intercontinental title ladder match at WrestleMania 31. You might be wondering how the man himself feels about going from Fastlane headliner to being shoehorned into a hastily put together comedy angle built around people the WWE creative team had no major plans for on the biggest show of the year stealing a title that hasn't been relevant for the vast majority of the past decade.

Being an easy-going optimist, naturally he was thrilled at the prospect once he got over the disappointment of missing out on a WWE World Heavyweight Title match with Brock Lesnar, as he told IGN a few days ago, whilst promoting The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown DVD that came out earlier this week:

"I'd be thrilled. I'd love it. To me, right now, the Intercontinental Title stuff is some of the funnest stuff on television. As far as the WWE goes and the stories. You have a lot of skilled performers who are getting to be in it, and going back to the thing we said before, about reaching different demographics, R-Truth has been hilarious during this whole thing. Like, trying to constantly steal the Intercontinental Championship and all that kind of stuff. And when you're in a Ladder Match with a bunch of other people, it's different than everything else on the show. So you really have the chance to go out there and not only be highlighted, but also actually steal the show."

It's pretty sad that Daniel Bryan has to sell R-Truth committing theft and playing the fool in 2015 as WWE attempting to reach different demos rather than merely entertaining the audience of one, but I don't blame him as that comes with the territory of doing media for the company.

However, making the best of the hand that's dealt you, although an admirable character trait, may be a key component in explaining why Vince McMahon has never fully got behind Daniel Bryan. Clearly, McMahon looks down on people who lack ambition and won't rock the boat in an attempt to grab the brass ring, so maybe voicing a bit more frustration, rather than being a model WWE employee that always gives a positive answer to challenging questions, would benefit his standing with the boss in the long run. At this point, it has to be worth a try, as it's hard to imagine a star of Bryan's magnitude could be marginalised any further by his onscreen portrayal.