If Bryan is able to compete, the former tag team partners will face off in not just any ordinary matchup. Instead, their championship contest will be a Stretcher Match, a bout that can only be won when one Superstar incapacitates his opponent long enough to place him onto a stretcher, wheel him up the aisle and past a finish line.
The Beard knows what it’s like to be strapped to a gurney. Bryan had to be carted out of the arena after Kane Tombstoned him three times — including once on a set of steel steps —on the April 21 edition of Raw. The popular “Yes!” Man earned some measure of retribution on May 4 with a victory over The Devil’s Favorite Demon in a harrowing Extreme Rules Match that featured tire irons, forklifts and a flaming table. Though Bryan’s efforts were enough to keep Kane down for a three-count, the demonic Superstar only appeared more enraged, if not indestructible, when he sat up moments after the winning pinfall.
Bryan’s troubles with Kane didn’t end there. Last month, days before undergoing surgery to repair nerve damage in his neck, the leader of the “Yes!” Movement was assaulted backstage by Kane — an attack that further exacerbated his injuries.
The WWE World Heavyweight Champion isn’t the only member of his household who has felt the wrath of Kane or, for that matter, Stephanie McMahon. Bryan’s wife, Brie Bella, has been terrorized by the masked hell-raiser and, when facing being fired by the WWE Principal Owner, quit WWE at Payback in support of her husband.
Will The Beard be able to battle The Authority’s red-and-black terror on June 29, or will the brave Superstar be forced to relinquish the title he worked so hard to achieve?
