Daniel Bryan Is a Vegan Villain

No charisma? Try all the charisma.
Photo Credit: WWE.com

In the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the titular protagonist must face off against Ramona Flowers' seven evil exes in order to claim the chance to be her boyfriend. It's a great movie, and probably the only time I've ever liked Michael Cera, but that's besides the point. One of the exes, played by the supremely underrated Brandon Routh, is a Vegan who happens to currently be dating Scott's ex-girlfriend who broke his heart. In the movie, being Vegan comes with having special super powers, which add to the stereotypical superiority complex that is ascribed to those who follow that diet. It ended with him mindlessly admitting that he'd eaten bacon and chicken parm (thinking they were Vegan friendly) after Pilgrim had tricked him into drinking milk, leading to a police force showing up and stripping him of his Vegan powers. He was on screen for 10 minutes, tops, but it was one of those scene-stealing performances just sticks out in the memory. I'd go so far as to say it was the best portrayal of how society views a militant Vegan in media, "was" being the operative word here.

This past Monday on RAW, Daniel Bryan surpassed Routh's character from Scott Pilgrim with his one appearance. Okay, maybe I'm blinded by both hyperbole and rampant fanboyism, but holy shit, talk about taking the talking point that he had "no charisma", one that even he adopted right after winning the World Heavyweight Championship, and throwing it in the wood chipper. He's been as dynamic out of the ring as he is in the ring, and damn, he's still one of the best, if not the best in the world in it. (In an aside, anyone else think Bryan looked at Dolph Ziggler's 2011, saw it as a personal challenge, and then set out to make his 2012 that much more epic, ESPECIALLY against Punk Monday? No? I am forever alone.) He's the very definition of a dynamic character right now.

Obviously, the kind of heat that Bryan generates for himself is based off a stereotype, one that Vegans usually are militant assholes about their lifestyle. Obviously, he's not running a terribly new kind of character, as the guy he faced off against Monday did the same exact thing, only with his Straight Edge lifestyle. That being said, wrestling as exaggerated theater often times exploits stereotypes to great effect because they can be used to clearly delineate the roles of hero and villain. Bryan's been a Vegan since he came into WWE, but he hasn't been militant about it since Monday. It's refreshing that in the age of us being expected to hate Jinder Mahal because he wears a turban that we're compelled to boo Bryan not because of who he is, but of what he does (i.e. act like an asshole). Wrestling is also not terribly based on originality of character. It's all about execution really. To borrow a phrase from a WWE Hall of Famer, right now, Bryan is showing excellence of execution.

Every time I see someone like Mason Ryan waddle out of the back like his muscles are choking him, it makes me shake my head as to why guys are trotted out for their size only. Performers like Bryan keep proving and proving that it's not the size that matters, but the ability. We all were worried as to how Bryan would perform in WWE, but he's doing just fine. I'm also sure that what he's putting out isn't being ignored either, or else he wouldn't get the stage he's getting every week to do what he's doing. I have to wonder though, is he at such a high level BECAUSE he has Vegan powers? If he didn't show ability like this before when he ate meat in the indies, I'd be inclined to agree, but I had to take this article home to match the beginning of it. I JUST HAD TO.