5 reasons why WWE turned Daniel Bryan heel
Wait, Daniel Bryan did what?!?!
Yes, the November 13th edition of SmackDown saw the beloved D-Bry hit a low blow on AJ Styles on his way to defeating the Phenomenal One for the WWE Championship. Not content with simply a questionable title win, Bryan cemented his heel turn by assaulting the Face That Runs The Place (awful nickname, right?) as the show went off the air.
So there we are, barely six months into Daniel Bryan’s return to in-ring action and the WWE decision makers have already made the call to turn the ever-popular Washington native into a nefarious bad guy. Some may question that call, others may embrace it, but either way, it appears as if the SmackDown landscape has been given a major shake-up.
Even more surprising about all of this is the fact that Styles was set to face WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in a matter of days at the annual Survivor Series PPV. With that match one that many fans were hugely looking forward to seeing, the bout is now off the table; Bryan replacing AJ in going up against Paul Heyman’s Beast.
While the Bryan heel turn may have just been an on-a-whim call by Vince McMahon, here are five possible reasons why the turn took place how and when it did.
#5 B+ Player
While Daniel Bryan is truly one of the greatest in-ring talents and performers of his generation and beyond – and far, far from a B+ player – the former American Dragon was always likely to be in the shadow of AJ Styles if kept as a babyface on the SmackDown brand.
Bryan and Styles are both fantastic babyfaces, and both could easily lead the blue brand as the top guy, but realistically it looked as if D-Bry was to be positioned as the B+ babyface to the Phenomenal One’s A-grade good guy should SmackDown remain on the same path as it has over the past several months.
Of course, that path has well and truly been shook up now, with Bryan turning heel by cheating to defeat Styles for the WWE Championship and then laying a post-match beatdown on the fallen P1.
So, while this turn may have come totally out of left field and may have been a spur of the moment decision from WWE creative, it was a way for the WWE to once again position Daniel Bryan as an A-level talent and a headline act at the top of the card.
Plus, rather than Bryan playing second fiddle to AJ, it allows for a far more intriguing relationship between the pair.