Daniel Bryan shocked the entire wrestling universe when he made a triumphant in-ring return at WrestleMania 34, where he teamed up with Shane McMahon to defeat the team of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Following his blockbuster return at WrestleMania 34, he was booked in a mediocre feud with Big Cass which derailed the momentum he had with him at that point in time.
Going into SummerSlam he was booked in a long-awaited feud with The Miz but not even that could revive his fading popularity. Daniel Bryan continued to feud with Miz for the next two months until the start of the build towards WWE Survivor Series last year. Bryan and Miz clashed in a number one contender's match at WWE Super Show-Down to determine the new challenger for the then WWE Champion AJ Styles.
Daniel Bryan emerged victorious at WWE Super Show-Down event in Melbourne and earned himself a shot at the WWE champion. Bryan cashed in his championship match opportunity on the last SmackDown Live episode before WWE Survivor Series. As expected, both AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan had a fantastic back and forth encounter which culminated with a shocking climax.
A year-long record-breaking title reign of AJ Styles came to an end with a perfectly executed heel turn from Daniel Bryan as he low blew AJ Styles in the finishing stages of the match and then hit the running knee to dethrone Styles. Bryan not only ended the title reign of AJ Styles but also altered the main event of WWE Survivor Series as he replaced AJ and went on to face Brock Lesnar in a dream Champion versus Champion match.
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Currently, Daniel Bryan is in the second month of his title reign and is set to defend the WWE Championship against AJ Styles at the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV. Analyzing recent booking trends, it does seem like Daniel Bryan will manage to retain WWE Championship and move onto newer challengers after Royal Rumble PPV. In this slideshow, we are going to take a look at potential opponents for Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 35 assuming he is still the WWE champion till the commencement of the biggest WWE PPV of the year.
#3 Daniel Bryan vs John Cena
The rematch of the main event of WWE SummerSlam 2013 is one of the probable WWE Championship matches for this year's mega event. John Cena has announced his entry into the Royal Rumble match on the latest edition of WWE Raw and will obviously be present in the list of favorites to win the annual Royal Rumble match.
Considering that Cena is on the verge of creating history by winning another World Championship, WWE might be tempted to use this as one of the major selling points for WrestleMania 35. The history between John Cena and Daniel Bryan can be the driving force for this program if it does come into fruition.
#2 Daniel Bryan vs The Miz
Of course, both Bryan and Miz were involved in a bitter rivalry last year but their rivalry culminated in an anticlimactic way as the feud did not get an appropriate finale. Also, this time around the character dynamics of their long term feud is reversed as Daniel Bryan would be portraying the role of heel this time around.
Currently, there is a lack of main event babyface superstars on Smackdown Live. Apart from AJ Styles, Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy are the only established faces on blue brand right now. This situation has led the creatives to push the latest entrant Mustafa Ali in the recent weeks. So if WWE decides to turn one of its major heels into a babyface to balance the levelling field of the main event scene of Smackdown, then Miz would probably be one of the ideal choices.
The Miz is currently embroiled in a rather confusing storyline along with Shane McMahon and is scheduled to challenge for the Smackdown Tag team titles against the Bar at Royal Rumble. For Daniel Bryan vs The Miz to happen at WM 35, Miz should first finish his current storyline with Shane and then cross paths with the new Daniel Bryan with a new attitude. It would revitalize their long term feud and would provide the WWE Universe with an intriguing rivalry going into WrestleMania 35.
#1 Daniel Bryan vs Samoa Joe
This matchup may seem highly unlikely right now as both the superstars play the role of despicable heel. Samoa Joe has been a great heel in the last two years since he made his main roster debut in early 2017 but could not become either WWE or Universal Champion in spite of challenging for both the titles on multiple occasions.
Maybe a change in character might provide him with the luck that evaded him during his main roster run so far. Samoa Joe has proven in the past that he can even play the role of the face as efficiently as his current heel role. This change would not only freshen up the main event scene of Smackdown live and would also benefit Samoa Joe who has been a victim of bad booking decisions since now.
Given a perfect platform and opportunity the two talented superstars are certain to put on an instant classic given their expertise inside the ring. Of all the Smackdown live superstars, Samoa Joe is the best possible opponent available for Daniel Bryan to go one on one at Wrestlemania 35 with the WWE championship on the line.