this angle did the impossible and thats make trips entertaining.
That's because like every great angle, it plays off reality.
This really is the story of Bryan Danielson, he was never seen as a main eventer. The WWE has taken this stance on smaller guys for years, they always been anti-indy before Punk's rise.
This story works so well because it seems so real. The roles are played so well because there is truth in all of them, this is why Orton's role is probably the least notable out of this feud, because that really isn't Orton. He petitioned for them to bring back Bryan.
People forget back in the day that 3H threw shade at Bryan in an interview when he said something like "How can you call a guy the Best in the World when he's only wrestled in front of 500 people"