Daniel Bryan wound up retaining the WWE Championship at Sunday’s Royal Rumble event, but he needed some help from a returning Erick Rowan to do it.
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Late in the match Rowan, who had not been seen on WWE television in months as one half of the Bludgeon Brothers, made his way down to the ring but did not initially interfere. Styles and Bryan continued to brawl, but Styles accidentally kicked the referee in the side of the head after Bryan ducked an attack. Styles then hit a Styles Clash, but was picked up by the head and chokeslammed by Rowan, allowing Bryan to make the pin.
Rowan set Bryan up to attack Styles again after the match, indicating the two had formed an alliance.
The rivalry between Styles and Bryan traces all the way back to mid-November. Styles, who had just made it a full year as WWE Champion, was booked to face Brock Lesnar in a Champion vs. Champion match at Survivor Series, but was goaded into defending his title against Bryan on the final episode of SmackDown Live before the event. Late in the match Styles accidentally hit the referee with a Phenomenal Forearm, giving Bryan to opening to turn heel and hit Styles with a low blow. He then connected with a Running Knee moments later to pick up the win and become WWE Champion for the first tie since returning for a medically-induced retirement.
Bryan would go on to cut promos in the following weeks saying that he was the “New Daniel Bryan” and that it was his “dreams” that pushed him to turn heel into finally becoming world champion again. Styles challenged him to a rematch at TLC in December, only to come up short after Bryan won via roll-up.
In recent weeks Bryan’s outrage has turned to the fans, saying their lives are empty and that their trying to fill a void with unhealthy processed food and living vicariously through their heroes like Styles. Now that he’s a heel again for the first time since the “Yes! Movement” began, Bryan said in a recent interview with Newsweek that he wants to be the most hated man in the company.
“I want to be more hated than Brock Lesnar,” Bryan said. “Some people want to cheer for the bad guy. I don’t want them to cheer, I want to be hated. So far I’ve had two jumpers at live events [laughs] and that’s an old school kind of mentality. You don’t want those guys to jump but you want them to hate you. You want them to pay to see you get beat. Or pay to see you get beat up or at the very least enjoy seeing you get beat up. That’s my thing.”
