PWTorch.com - WWE NEWS: WWE uses "get well" message for Daniel Bryan to promote Network announcement instead; super-imposes McMahon on Smackdown broadcast

WWE News
WWE NEWS: WWE uses "get well" message for Daniel Bryan to promote Network announcement instead; super-imposes McMahon on Smackdown broadcast

Oct 31, 2014 - 8:32:06 PM

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By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

At Tuesday night's Smackdown TV taping, WWE told the audience they were recording a "get well" message for Daniel Bryan. Instead, the message was used to hype a WWE Network announcement spliced into Friday's broadcast. Included in Friday's announcement was an appearance by WWE CEO Vince McMahon.

What Happened Tuesday:

- After the production crew switched over from the Main Event to Smackdown TV taping, Big Show was introduced to the crowd.

In the ring, Show talked about Daniel Bryan's injury situation and asked the crowd to send a "get well" message to Bryan. The crowd responded with Bryan's "Yes!" chants. Show turned into a cheerleader asking for louder chants, creating a visual of the entire arena doing emphatic "Yes!" chants.

What Aired Friday:

- Smackdown opened with audio of ring announcer Eden Stiles introducing Vince McMahon in a post-produced voice-over. WWE then showed a spliced-in message from Vince McMahon, who announced to the TV audience that the month of November is free to new WWE Network subscribers.

McMahon closed his message with "Yes, Yes, Yes," doing D-Bryan's finger point. On the Smackdown broadcast, WWE super-imposed McMahon appearing on the Titantron in the arena. The idea was to make it seem as if the message was shown to the live audience, when it was not.

WWE then cut to crowd shots of the arena doing "Yes!" chants. The chants were made to appear to be in response to McMahon, when in fact the "Yes!" chants were the D-Bryan "get well" message that WWE spliced into the broadcast.

Caldwell's Analysis: This captures how desperate WWE is to sell the Network, making it seem as if an arena crowd was enthusiastic about a Network sales pitch when in fact they were led to believe they were sending "Yes!" chants to Daniel Bryan. At the taping, the set-up seemed a bit suspicious. It felt like they were recording the chants to be spliced into another segment; perhaps for Bryan's wife, Brie Bella. But, when Brie did not appear at the taping, it made Big Show's cheerleading work seem even more suspicious.

[Torch art credit Joe Borzotta (c) PWTorch.com]