Daniel Bryan def. Randy Orton and Batista to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion

NEW ORLEANS – Batista has to deal with it. The voices in Randy Orton’s head are speechless. And

Triple H’s corporate throne will have to do without

its crown jewel, because Daniel Bryan – the Goat

Face, the Weak Link, the B-plus player, he of the

high school gyms and double-digit paydays on the

independent scene – is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Perhaps, however, to say he simply won a title (or

two) is an understatement. Bolstered, as ever, by

the legions of the “Yes!” Movement that have

carried him to glory, Bryan didn’t just capture the

championship he’s chased for almost a year now:

He rectified every malicious misfortune that befell him throughout his rise. He beat The King of Kings

via pinfall in the opening match of the evening to

earn his way into the title bout. He reclaimed the

WWE Title that was stolen from him at

SummerSlam (and again after Hell in a Cell) via

submission. Given the two-title nature of the WWE World Heavyweight Title, he even got his hands

back on the World Heavyweight Championship he

lost in 18 seconds two years ago, in an ignominious

WrestleMania XXVIII loss where this Movement

really started. Despite the fairy-tale ending, the bout was far from

a fantasy fulfilled until the last possible second:

Opposed by not one but two of Triple H’s protégés,

Bryan fought tooth and nail to claim the ultimate

prize. He certainly had to fight to earn the honor.

Orton is the embodiment of WWE’s status quo; a Superstar for whom the brass ring practically came

with the brass baby rattle. Batista – despite being

recast by the fans from a conquering hero to an

extension of The Authority’s rampaging ego made

flesh – is and always has been less a man than a

force of nature inside a wrestling ring. Bryan, meanwhile, was always the perennial

underdog: a “B-plus player” who supposedly would

never make the grade and a bearded ragamuffin

who simply would not do as the clean-cut face of a

WWE that would never give him the opportunity to

succeed anyway. In the months leading up to WrestleMania, it became apparent from screwjob

after screwjob that Bryan would never be given  the

ultimate prize in the same gift-wrapped way that

Orton did. He would have to take it. In so many words, he did.