WWE Rumors: Reason why Daniel Bryan will not compete in Royal Rumble match (Exclusive)

Daniel Bryan has been synonymous with the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view over the last few years, despite the fact that he has never won the 30-man Rumble match.

Speaking on the latest episode of Sportskeeda’s Dropkick DiSKussions podcast, Tom Colohue explained to host Korey Gunz that Bryan is unlikely to participate in the men’s match at the 2020 Royal Rumble because WWE does not want fans to boo the eventual winner.

Instead, Bryan is set to continue his rivalry with “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt by challenging for the Universal Championship in another match on the Rumble card.

“I think the reason we’re going to get Daniel Bryan against The Fiend at the Royal Rumble is to give The Fiend a match at the Rumble and to keep Daniel Bryan out of the Rumble.

“Much like I’d imagine as we get closer to the Rumble we’re going to hear a lot of reminders that CM Punk does not work for the company and will not be in the Rumble, to make sure whoever does eventually win is not booed out the building for not being Daniel Bryan and not being CM Punk.”

Listen to the full discussion about Daniel Bryan's character change from the 14:30 mark of the video below.

Daniel Bryan’s Royal Rumble history

In 2014, the WWE Universe reacted with loud jeers when Daniel Bryan did not enter the match. Batista, who was supposed to be a babyface at the time, eliminated Roman Reigns to book his ticket to WrestleMania, but his win was completely overshadowed by the crowd’s negative reaction.

The following year, a similar crowd response was heard for much of the Rumble when Bryan was eliminated by Bray Wyatt. From that moment on, the Philadelphia fans hijacked the match with chants and boos, especially when Reigns went on to pick up the victory.

Since then, Bryan has only been cleared to participate at one Royal Rumble event (2019), but he was the WWE Champion at the time, which meant he was not eligible to compete in the 30-man Rumble.