WWE News: Daniel Bryan to serve as Special Guest Referee at Clash of Champions

What’s the story?

SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan added himself to the tag team match with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura at Clash of Champions and will serve as the second special guest referee.

In case you didn’t know...

Zayn and Owens are set to face Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura at the Clash of Champions pay-per-view. Commissioner Shane McMahon added himself to the match as the Special Guest Referee and added the stipulation that if Zayn and Owens lose, they will be fired from SmackDown and banned from WWE.

The heart of the matter

Zayn and Owens were handing out flyers advertising a “Yep Movement" to Occupy SmackDown Live; a parody of Bryan’s "Yes Movement" and the Occupy Raw segment from 2014.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens requested wrestlers join their cause to overthrow McMahon, but only Daniel Bryan would answer their call and challenged them for trying to recreate the Occupy Raw Movement.

After more requests from Zayn and Owens to Bryan about making their career-threatening match fair, Bryan revealed he will serve as the second special guest referee to offset McMahon and ensure he doesn’t go into business for himself to enact revenge.

McMahon has been feuding with Owens since SummerSlam, but the biggest offense was Zayn and Owens interfering in the Men’s Elimination Match between Raw and SmackDown at Survivor Series.

Shane McMahon almost fired Zayn and Owens weeks ago, but Bryan interrupted him and later explained that both men were too talented to lose.

What’s next?

Rumors have been circulating that a character change is coming for Bryan or McMahon and the addition of Bryan to the match could be the catalyst for that change.

Shane McMahon is clearly against the idea of Zayn and Owens being on his program, but Bryan has come off more neutral to the problem and may lead to him sticking up for the former NXT Champions.

Author’s Take

All signs are pointing towards a heel turn for one of SmackDown’s authority figures, but it won’t become clear who until Clash of Champions.