After two grueling years of WWE saying "NO!" no matter how many of the country's most reputable concussion experts said "YES!," WWE finally gave Daniel Bryan the green light to return to active competition.
This was a day that many fans thought they'd never see. After all, WWE has been rightfully antsy about concussions ever since the Chris Benoit incident of 2007. Still, their stubbornness was incredibly frustrating (both for the fans and for Bryan) considering how many neurologists affirmed him that nothing was wrong. But all of that is thankfully over now, and WWE's most beloved underdog babyface is ready to go once again.
Now, ever since the news broke, a lot of people have been posting about who they'd love to see Bryan face. Of course, the notion of "Bryan vs. Styles" or "Bryan vs. Nakamura" sounds like something of a dream...but those lists have already been done to death. So here are to list 5 people that Daniel Bryan shouldn't wrestle, but that WWE will likely book him to wrestle with at some point.
There are a couple factors that go into these; the wrestler could be a dangerous worker, their style may not mesh well with Bryan's (though Bryan could wrestle a compelling match with a dish towel), or maybe they're just flat-out uninteresting. Of course, these picks are merely opinion-based and you are free to disagree and to offer your suggestions in the comments.
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Anyway, onto the list!
#5 Dolph Ziggler
Let's kick this list off right away with the first opponent they teased for Bryan after his official announcement on last night's SmackDown Live - "The Show Off," Dolph Ziggler.
Now, Dolph Ziggler is an incredible wrestler. He's been sinfully misused for the majority of his career, and he and Bryan would likely put on a wrestling clinic together. So why shouldn't they square off?
Simple - because it's not interesting.
Think about it - what reason would Daniel Bryan have to feud with Ziggler? The man's been floundering in the mid-card for years now, and Bryan clearly wants to assume his place back at the top of the card. Beating Ziggler (which he so obviously would) wouldn't really get him any closer to the top. In fact, beating Ziggler wouldn't really do much of anything for Bryan in the grand scheme of things.
While these two would put on a wonderful match, the outcome is far too predictable to get excited about.
#4 Randy Orton
These two had a really good thing going from 2013-2014: Daniel Bryan was the plucky hero and Randy Orton was the opportunistic villain leeching success off of The Authority. At that time, everyone wanted to see Orton get his comeuppance at the hands of Daniel Bryan. But now, the idea of Daniel Bryan beating Randy Orton is... meh.
See, Randy Orton is suffering from a lot of the issues that Dolph Ziggler is facing right now - his character is bland (he's not called "Blandy Blorton" for nothing) and WWE Creative is doing little to nothing to remedy that.
It's hard to say who has had it worse out of the two because, while Ziggler has incessantly been booked to lose, Orton has been booked in awful feuds with Bray Wyatt (which had the potential to be great) and Jinder Mahal.
The difference, however, is that Orton doesn't seem to care that he's being booked so poorly. As a matter of fact, it almost seems as if Orton is just going through the motions at this point.
Look, Orton is an undeniably solid worker. But he's simply not hot right now, and Daniel Bryan needs to wrestle someone that the people care about in some way.
#3 Braun Strowman
In theory, Daniel Bryan and Braun Strowman could have a pretty awesome match with one another. It would be an easily and effectively-executed "David vs. Goliath" narrative, a la Bret Hart whenever he faced Diesel in 1995.
Problem is... a match between these two wouldn't be good for either man from a storyline perspective.
Both Daniel Bryan and Braun Strowman are adored by the fans (albeit for different reasons, but anyway). Who would the fans cheer for? And for that matter, how would they react to the ending?
If Daniel Bryan wins, that means Braun Strowman loses to a man much smaller than him, thus killing off some of his mystique. Conversely, if Braun Strowman wins, then the fans would get mad and turn on him because he beat Daniel Bryan.
Of course, Strowman ultimately ends up the loser in both of these situations, but it's a lose-lose for both competitors, as well as for the fans. Hopefully, these two stay on separate rosters so that the fans won't have to choose between them.
#2 Jinder Mahal
Simply put — Jinder Mahal is a bad wrestler.
A good wrestler doesn't put on a bad match with Shinsuke Nakamura. No half-competent wrestler could put on a boring match with A.J. Styles. Jinder Mahal has somehow managed to do both of those things.
Jinder Mahal is not worthy of facing Daniel Bryan, and that's all that needs to be said.
#1 Shane McMahon
No one wants this match. No one.
First of all, Shane McMahon isn't a wrestler, yet WWE keeps insisting he's a big deal in the ring. They've given him matches with The Undertaker, with AJ Styles (which, admittedly, was far better than it should have been), with Kevin Owens, and so on.
Frankly, his presence is becoming tiresome. It was cool to see him when he first came back, but he's been taking time away from far more deserving talents for far too long, and putting him in another high-profile match isn't going to remedy that.
Also, if this match were to happen, it's painfully obvious that Bryan would win. So how do they build something like this as a "must-see" match?
Sure, they could put on a surprisingly good bout, but that still doesn't make this match interesting. In fact, nothing makes this match interesting. WWE - please don't book this match.
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