WWE's Reported Reason Behind Turning Daniel Bryan Heel
WWE has been a crazy place in recent weeks. We've lost Roman Reigns due to emergency, Becky Lynch [...]
WWE has been a crazy place in recent weeks. We've lost Roman Reigns due to emergency, Becky Lynch to injury and now Daniel Bryan to the Dark Side.
The WWE Universe watched in confusion as Bryan delivered a low blow to AJ Styles en route to capturing the WWE Championship on SmackDown. But after the bell, Bryan made sure we all understood where he now stands as he unloaded extra punishment upon Styles.
Bryan's character hasn't said much since his heel turn, but Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Radio has the scoop. Apparently, Bryan has been lobbying to turn heel for over a month and Vince McMahon finally decided to give him the green light on Tuesday.
"The heel turn was decided this afternoon. It was basically Vince saying, 'Let's do it all in one day and get the biggest impact.' Now the weird part is they've spent how much time saying that Brock Lesnar is the ultimate heel, he never comes to work, blah, blah, blah. Now you're going to put Daniel Bryan against Lesnar and for that match to work Daniel Bryan needs to be a babyface, but he's a heel. So logically perhaps the heel turn should be in the re-match and not this match. [Bryan] goes into this match as a babyface, do the match, whatever they're going to do."
Bryan vs. Lesnar does provide an interesting batch of psychology. Bryan made a career out of being one of the most believable underdogs in WWE history. Lesnar is arguably WWE's best bully. So how does this work? No one knows exactly, but we'll all be watching on Sunday, and that may have been the point.
"Vince decided to do it all at once, let's shake things up maybe the big audience drop — you know who knows what makes Vince make these moves. Maybe it was Becky Lynch being hurt? It's like, 'Well make a big move today that everybody talks about," said Meltzer.
Things have been tumultuous as of late, and WWE has been forced to book on the fly. Even though the circumstances are unfortunate, the latest episodes of Raw and SmackDown have offered some can't-miss moments. WWE is exciting to watch right now, which hasn't always been the case in recent years.
While Bryan vs. Lesnar may feel incongruent, WWE likely has long-term places in place for evil Bryan. His expected WrestleMania feud with The Miz now seems questionable, but we'll guess Bryan is WWE's pick to carry the WWE Championship into WrestleMania 35.
[H/T Ringside News]