WrestleMania passed by over two weeks ago, but on this week's episode of WWE SmackDown, we saw Roman Reigns take on Daniel Bryan in a match that was nothing short of a WrestleMania main event.
The match saw The Tribal Chief beat Daniel Bryan clean when the Leader Of The Yes Movement faded away to Roman Reigns' Guillotine Choke.
Daniel Bryan's loss to Roman Reigns on last night's WWE SmackDown means that Bryan can no longer compete on the Blue Brand. Daniel Bryan didn't lose because Jey Uso or another WWE Superstar interfered in the match but lost clean to the Universal Champion in the center of the ring.
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Here's a look at some possible reasons why WWE took such a drastic decision to banish Bryan from WWE SmackDown.
#5 Establishing that Roman Reigns is better than Daniel Bryan
Back in 2015, when Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble match, he was met with a loud round of boos. The fans in attendance and at home expected Daniel Bryan to win that match and move forward to headline WrestleMania 31.
On the road to WrestleMania, Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan faced off at WWE Fastlane where Bryan was defeated by Reigns.
Earlier this year, at WWE Elimination Chamber, Daniel Bryan beat five other WWE Superstars for a chance to face Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. Moments after Bryan won his match, the Universal Champion made his way to the ring and annihilated Bryan with the Guillotine Choke.
Now, after his win on WWE SmackDown, Roman Reigns can face his haters and naysayers and rub it in their faces that he beat their favorite WWE Superstar, Daniel Bryan, clean without playing any games against him either before or after the match.
#4 A possible fitting end to Daniel Bryan's WWE SmackDown career?
Daniel Bryan's match against Roman Reigns last night may have been one of their best encounters. Both WWE Superstars gave it their all and had WWE SmackDown viewers completely invested in their match.
The match will go down as one of Bryan's best performances in the WWE and if he doesn't return to WWE SmackDown, so be it.
As many WWE fans know, Daniel Bryan may have hinted at retiring from a wrestling role after his Universal Championship match at WrestleMania. In the current scenario that the world is in, WWE fans couldn't have asked for a better final match from their former underdog Champion.
#3 Ensuring Roman Reigns becomes the biggest heel in WWE
There's no doubt that Roman Reigns is on his best run yet in the WWE. Since his return at last year's SummerSlam, The Tribal Chief has dominated every single WWE Superstar that has stepped in his way.
If WWE could do anything to further elevate Roman Reigns' character as a heel, it had to be eliminating Daniel Bryan from the WWE SmackDown locker room.
#2 Making way for other WWE SmackDown Superstars to challenge Roman Reigns
Since becoming Universal Champion, Roman Reigns has defended the Championship against former WWE and Universal Champions (with the exception of Jey Uso). His past four Universal Title defenses have involved Daniel Bryan as a challenger.
With Bryan out of the way, Roman Reigns has a chance to explore more opponents that he might never have faced before as a Champion. It looks like Cesaro will be the one to step up to Roman Reigns next but it seems unlikely that he will dethrone the Tribal Chief.
#1 Daniel Bryan can now play a more prominent role backstage
As mentioned earlier, Daniel Bryan shared that he had an odd detachment from wrestling during his WrestleMania main event against Roman Reigns and Edge. With Reigns beating Bryan clean on WWE SmackDown, there is no case for either him or the fans to make that the match wasn't fair.
The booking gives Daniel Bryan a chance to easily move away from an in-ring role and make more of an impact in producing matches and helping with storylines. It is no secret that Bryan is the one who pushes for mid-carders to be pushed to the main event. Fans will no doubt be waiting to see what's next for the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion.