3 WWE Superstars Daniel Bryan requested to work with and 2 he did not

#2 Daniel Bryan did not request to work with AJ Lee

Former WWE creative team member Kevin Eck revealed in a since-deleted blog post that he came up with the idea to put Daniel Bryan in a relationship storyline with AJ Lee after he won the 2011 Money in the Bank ladder match.

In the months following his big victory, Daniel Bryan lost a series of matches and it looked as though he was going to become the first person in WWE to unsuccessfully cash in his Money in the Bank contract.

Eck felt that Daniel Bryan needed a new storyline to make him a worthy future World Champion, and his idea about a possible relationship with AJ Lee was well received by other people on the creative team.

As Eck recalled, Daniel Bryan was not too keen on the suggestion due to his history of relationship storylines.

“Other people on the team seemed to like the relationship idea, and I approached Bryan and AJ at TV one day to discuss it with them. AJ loved it, but Bryan's reaction surprised me. He politely but firmly said he'd rather not be in a storyline with a Diva since he had done one about a year earlier with the Bellas and Gail Kim and he felt it did nothing for his career.” [H/T Wrestling News World]

Daniel Bryan ended up benefiting from having AJ Lee as his on-screen girlfriend, especially at the start of his reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion in December 2011.

The relationship turned sour four months later at WrestleMania 28 when Lee accidentally distracted Daniel Bryan by kissing him before his match against Sheamus, who immediately hit a Brogue Kick to pick up the win in 18 seconds.