7 Top WWE Superstars who were demoted to kickoff shows

#6 Daniel Bryan competed on WWE kickoff shows

One of the lowest moments of Daniel Bryan’s WWE career came when he was told on the week of his United States Championship match against Sheamus at WrestleMania XXVII that they were going to be on the kickoff show.

Speaking on NotSam Wrestling in 2015, Bryan recalled how he also had another bad experience with Sheamus at WrestleMania XXVIII, which is why he was reluctant to go along with Vince McMahon’s original idea of facing the Irishman again at WrestleMania XXX.

“We had already had two bad WrestleMania moments together, and not because we did bad, but they were just bad circumstances. The pre-show… the 18-second match… then, yeah, I was just like, ‘Do you know what? The last thing the WrestleMania crowd wants to see is me and Sheamus.’”

As it turned out, CM Punk's exit from WWE resulted in major changes being made to the WrestleMania XXX card, with Bryan defeating Triple H in the opening match of the main PPV before going on to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat match against Randy Orton and Batista in the main event.

It would have been unthinkable after Bryan’s career-defining victory that he would ever compete on a PPV kickoff show ever again, but that is exactly where he found himself at WWE Money in the Bank 2019.

The Planet’s Champion teamed with Erick Rowan in a losing effort against The Usos, with Bryan even taking the pinfall in the match.