5 things that prove WWE is trying to turn Daniel Bryan heel and tarnish his legacy

Will WWE be successful in tarnishing the legacy of one of their most beloved and successful superstars at WrestleMania 34, or is the company capable of doing the right thing and giving one of their top stars the send-off they deserve? While some might see these two options as non-nonsensical hyperbole, here's why things are looking bad right now.

Dave Meltzer discussed the Shane McMahon versus Daniel Bryan storyline taking place on Smackdown Live recently, and while he admitted that it was only speculation at this point in time, he did admit that he believes the feud is being used to tarnish Bryan's value in the indy scene.

With that being said and the evidence becoming more and more clear as the days count down to WrestleMania 34, here are five things that prove WWE is intentionally trying to tarnish Bryan's legacy with his storyline.

Some of these will be storyline driven and others will be rumours and innuendo, but hopefully, this will help you make an informed decision.

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#5 Aligning him with heels

Daniel Bryan and Sami Zayn discussing things in the ring.

While this might be one of the more obvious things WWE is doing in order to turn Daniel Bryan heel and tarnishing his legacy, it is one of the weaker arguments in this discussion. A lot of that has to do with the fact that Bryan is aligning himself with Zayn and Owens in order to combat the unfairness shown by Shane McMahon, but its starting to make Bryan look bad.

With that being said and Bryan seemingly helping Zayn and Owens save their jobs multiple times despite fans begging him not to every single week, it's pretty safe to assume that Bryan is a heel for now. Whether that changes or not is anyone's guess and WWE could very well let him redeem himself at WrestleMania 34, but that's just speculation right now.

#4 Crowd reaction

The WWE Universe doing a Yes Chant with Daniel Bryan.

Daniel Bryan announced that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn would take on Aj Styles for The WWE Championship at The Royal Rumble and while the math is exactly what Smackdown Live needs in order to combat the triple threat match for The Universal Championship, it has also caused a lot of fans to be upset with Daniel Bryan.

In fact, Daniel Bryan tried to lead a round of yes chants with the crowd after making the announcement and only got a mixed reaction at best. Not only was that one of the worst crowd reactions to a Daniel Bryan promo in a very long time, it also shows that WWE is indeed starting to succeed in tarnishing the Superstar's legacy.

#3 The Yep movement

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens explaining the origins of The Yep Movement

If lacklustre crowd reactions and being aligned with heels isn't enough to convince you of Daniel Bryan's imminent doom, what about the fact that WWE is trying to half-ass recreate one of the most popular fan movements in WWE Even worse, Bryan is seemingly going along with it.

While the going along with it part will be discussed in the next slide, it's important to note that WWE hasn't put a lot behind the idea at all and it seems to just inspire a sheep mentality among fans. Unfortunately for Daniel Bryan, it is only making him look like an absolute tool in the process of it all.

The chant sucks, the gimmick sucks and Daniel Bryan is honestly starting to suck for going along with something so senseless and career damaging. Think about it! Daniel Bryan would not look like the bad guy at this point if he walked out on the company right now and went to some Indy promotion to end his career.

Sure, some will see it is like taking his ball and going home like CM Punk, Neville, Austin Aires and Ryback all did, but Bryan has a legitimate reason to do so here. Not only to protect the legacy that he worked so hard to build but also to end his career on his terms and when he is actually ready to.

#2 Daniel Bryan being easily manipulated

Daniel Bryan appearing in the news.

Is WWE trying to make Daniel Bryan look like a complete ass?

While we've already discussed the fact that Daniel Bryan has a plausible reason for getting behind Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, especially with Shane McMahon's biased decisions as of late, it doesn't take away from the fact that WWE is doing everything possible to destroy his charter in the process.

For example, Bryan is contentiously falling for manipulation tactics employed by Zayn and Owens, which resulted in the duo keeping their job, getting chance after chance in the main event and even getting a two on one handicap title match. With that being said, Bryan looks like a vain conceited asshole for falling for their tricks.

WWE may have shown that Bryan had a legitimate interest in helping the duo keep things fair in the beginning, the fact that Bryan fell for their Yep movement bull crap and continues to help them out after being buttered up only makes him look worse and worse by the day. Even worse, Shane McMahon is pointing it out to Bryan and The WWE Universe again and again.

If nothing else, this is really making Bryan look stupid and weak. It's not shocking, it doesn't make me want to watch their big blow off match, it just makes me hang my head in shame that WWE would do this to someone. Hopefully, you do too!

#1 Stacking the deck against AJ Styles

The Phenomenal One, Aj Styles.

There is no better indicator that WWE is trying to turn Daniel Bryan heel than the fact that he seems to be stacking the deck against fan favourite champion, Aj Styles. It started a few weeks ago when Sami Zayn was given the main event match against Styles and culminated when Owens got the opportunity to go one on one with The Phenomenal one a week later.

Of course, Bryan only made things worse by announcing the previously mentioned two on one handicap match for The WWE Title at the Royal Rumble, but it is interesting that Bryan would be stacking the deck against a fan favourite if he wasn't playing a heel role. Then again, it could just be a tweener kind of thing, but we've already established why that isn't working.

While WWE has been known to have heroes embroiled it ambiguous decisions until they ultimately make the right choice, in the end, Bryan just doesn't have the right reasons to make these decisions. In fact, he almost looked like a heel on the same level as The Miz, Baron Corbin or Jinder Mahal with the way he is being unfair to Styles.

In the end, hopefully, WWE will do the right thing and not tarnish Bryan's legacy, but with the direction, the storyline is going in and how bad the fan reaction already is, that' probably not the case. Maybe things can change and Bryan will return to being the fan favourite at Mania, but he just looks like a doofus heel right now.