From the WWE Rumor Mill: What direction will Daniel Bryan take following the Superstar Shakeup?
What's the story?
Daniel Bryan returned to the ring for the first time in more than two years at WrestleMania last weekend.
But, it seems that Bryan will continue his in-ring career in the coming months and will play an active part in the upcoming Superstar Shake-up, but where will he be moved to?
In case you didn't know...
Bryan was cleared to return to the ring just weeks before WrestleMania. He was able to make quite the impact in his match, where he partnered Shane McMahon in their match against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
Following his return to the ring, Bryan resigned as SmackDown General Manager and McMahon unveiled Paige as the new manager this past week.
This means that Bryan will remain an active member of the roster, even though he was already part of a fantasy match with AJ Styles this past week on SmackDown.
The heart of the matter
There are a number of options for Daniel Bryan when it comes to his future following the Superstar Shake-up. It seems that, whilst the most obvious option would be for Bryan to step into a feud with his old rival The Miz, as part of today's episode of The Wrestling Observer Radio Bryan Alvarez discussed the options for Bryan following next week's Shake-up.(Transcript via Ringsidenews)
“I could see them avoiding that, yeah. You know they got to figure something out with Daniel Bryan I mean he’s got to be… I think they should really have Daniel Bryan and Nakamura and AJ Styles in a 3-ways program […] but I would hope that you would do that because aside from the fact the matches should be really good it’s something — I don’t know I just felt something watching that show Daniel Bryan didn’t feel as strong as he should have. But at WrestleMania, he didn’t either. At WrestleMania he didn’t because of the way they booked him. On SmackDown he didn’t because they put him in this match with a one-hour notice that you know people weren’t ready for it and people didn’t react to it like a dream match.”
What's next?
The Superstar Shakeup begins Monday night on Raw and it will see whether Bryan will stay on SmackDown Live or be moved over to the companies flagship show.
Author's take
It would make sense for Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns to remain on opposite brands if the company wanted to ensure that Reigns was still pushed as the top guy on the Raw brand.
It is easy to see The Miz and Bryan opening up a feud once again in the future, but for right now it doesn't seem to be the direction for Bryan, but the Shakeup will be interesting for the former WWE Champion and will definitely shape his paths moving forward.