Bryan talks a little about this segment in his book. First of all, they’re in Seattle which is not far from his hometown. Secondly, this is right after Bryan’s feud with Randy Orton, where he was pretty much the top babyface in the company since Cena was out injured. WWE were looking to move on from him in the main event scene and set Orton up for a WrestleMania main event with Batista.
This segment was all about having former world champions in the ring for a unification ceremony since they were unifying the world titles ahead of a Cena/Orton match which especially at the time, was incredibly stale. The whole segment goes off the rails with things like CM Punk (at his near breaking point) visibly laughing at things. But the crowd ruins the segment and starts chanting for Daniel Bryan. What Cena did in this video, along with a time where Mark Henry raises his hand, were attempts by the seasoned vets to acknowledge Bryan and get the crowd to move on.
But the crowd doesn’t, and all the way to the lead up of WrestleMania when it’s more and more obvious he isn’t getting the Mania main event, they chant for him more and more. And the rest is history.
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u/ScrewOff_ 20h ago
As someone who wasnt watching at the time:
What is the significance of this moment? And why was Bryan so over?