The past couple nights have had people scratching their heads over how the WWE is handling Cedric Alexander. At Night of Champions, the US title match between AJ Styles and Cedric Alexander was moved to the pre-show. The match only lasted around five minutes and Cedric lost quickly. The following night on RAW, Cedric once again took the pin from AJ Styles in a tag team match against The OC. Immediately after the match, AJ laid out Cedric a second time to conclude the segment.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, a source within WWE told him that they’re purposely burying Cedric. It’s unclear about whether this is a form of punishment, if the Vince McMahon has given up on his push, or if they’re trying to get fans behind him the same way they did with Daniel Bryan.

Daniel Bryan went through a huge losing streak while the fans rallied behind him. The WWE believes they can replicate that lightning in a bottle with new babyfaces from time to time by putting them through a losing streak. The idea is that the fans will be pining for Cedric to finally get the win. An important detail about Daniel Bryan’s trek to the top is that he managed to get over with the fans despite the losing streak, not because of it.