Powell's Blog: WWE advertised Daniel Bryan despite knowing he was out with a concussion, random thoughts on C.M. Punk in the Royal Rumble, and the usual final hype for the Royal Rumble

By Jason Powell

$1 for month of Prowrestling.net Membership! This price won't last forever, so sign up now and lock yourself in for all the Royal Rumble coverage on the ad-free version of the website, plus a recent newsworthy interview with Matt Morgan, the news-filled Dot Net Weekly audio show, and much more. Use the coupon code "rumble" via the Dot Net Members' Signup Page.

-WWE promoted Daniel Bryan for live events on Saturday and Sunday despite the fact that he suffered a concussion on Monday during Raw. WWE offered refunds to fans once they were in the building. That's the right approach to take when there's a last minute cancellation, but the company had to know this was coming and could have done a lot more than they did to get the word out that Bryan would not be able to appear.

WWE advertised Bryan on their website live events page for the show in Hammond, Indiana leading up to the event on Saturday. Even after telling that Hammond fans that he would not be able to appear due to injury and making the refund offer, they continued to advertise Bryan for Sunday's Kalamazoo, Michigan event.

WWE officials know that once people make the trip to the venue and settle into their seats, 99 percent of those fans are going to stick around and watch the show despite the refund offer. There have been times in the past when wrestling promotions have put notes on the door to tell fans that top talents would not be able to appear as advertised due to unforeseen events, which at least gives walk-up fans a chance to reconsider. In this case, none of our correspondents have mentioned any advance notice from WWE regarding Bryan's absence.

It's one thing if an undercard talent is unable to appear as advertised, but Bryan is clearly one of WWE's top draws. Fans who purchased tickets specifically or even in large part to see him deserved better. Adding Big Show to the card as a replacement may have helped soften the blow for those fans. On the flip side, fans who went to see the other WWE crew perform at house shows this weekend deserved a better explanation than Big Show was unable to appear due to "travel issues."

Getting back to Bryan, WWE should have removed him from the live events page and done more to notify fans that arguably the most popular performer in the company would not be able to appear as advertised. WWE is either guilty of false advertising for five to six days, being lazy, or not feeling like Daniel Bryan is a big enough star to warrant a real effort to get the word out that he would not appear as advertised.

Quick Hits

-By the way, is there a reason that the WWE website reported on the concussion that Dolph Ziggler suffered and offered multiple updates, yet there was no such story on Daniel Bryan all last week? The company's PR staff did confirm to us that Bryan suffered a concussion, but for some reason the story never made it's way to the official website.

-C.M. Punk has to be the first or second entrant in the Royal Rumble, right? Kane informed Punk that The Authority was giving him a spot in the match last week, and so it's logical to assume that they would attempt to sabotage him by making him one of the first entrants in the match. They could be blunt by making him the No.1 entrant, or be a little less overt by giving him the No. 2 slot, which is really no different than being the first entrant.

-Bold Prediction!!! Raw or Smackdown will end with a big random brawl to sell the Royal Rumble match. Kids ten and under will be impressed by both my prediction and the spectacle of the seemingly annual big brawl.