5 Ways to save Daniel Bryan from WWE 'mediocrity'

One of the most unexpected title changes at WWE Extreme Rules came when Big E & Xavier Woods won the SmackDown Tag Team titles from Daniel Bryan & Rowan in a Triple Threat match.

The eco-friendly duo defeated The Usos for the vacant titles on May 7 and it looked as though they could go on to have a lengthy reign as champions, especially after Bryan said that he wanted to headline WrestleMania alongside Rowan in a tag team match.

However, “The Planet’s Champion” gave a backstage interview following Extreme Rules in which he seemed to reveal that he no longer wants to be part of the “mediocre” and “unelevatable” tag division on SmackDown Live.

“I tried to take them to the main event of WrestleMania and I failed… But I don’t think that it was me that failed. I think in pursuing this excellence, they brought me down to mediocrity. I was trying to elevate the tag team division but they are ‘unelevatable’.”

He then told interviewer Sarah Schreiber that he “knows exactly what to do” before walking away, seemingly suggesting that he plans to become a singles competitor again.

With Bryan’s comments in mind, let’s take a look at what he could do next to save himself from WWE “mediocrity”.

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#5 Brock Lesnar rematch

When fans chant “Boring” midway through a main event and those chants turn into “This is awesome” by the end, you know that the WWE Universe has been through an unforgettable rollercoaster of a match.

That’s exactly what happened at Survivor Series 2018 when Universal champion Brock Lesnar defeated WWE champion Daniel Bryan in an 18-minute encounter which was dominated by Lesnar, hence the “Boring” chants, before Bryan began to take control out of nowhere.

Although the match was well received, it had just one week of build-up and, as is usually the case with the Champion vs. Champion concept at Survivor Series, it had very little riding on it.

With the ‘Wild Card Rule’ in place, a lot of fans would definitely be intrigued by a Lesnar vs. Bryan match for the Universal Championship. There is the small matter that both men are heels, of course, but that was also the case at Survivor Series!

#4 Recruit more allies

Daniel Bryan retained the WWE Championship against AJ Styles at the 2019 Royal Rumble after receiving help from an unlikely ally, Rowan, and the two men have been associated with each other ever since.

According to Bryan, Rowan is not his bodyguard or manager – he is simply his “intellectual peer” who views the planet in the same way that he does.

Before Kofi Kingston’s “KofiMania” phenomenon started and it looked as though Bryan could have a longer reign with his eco-friendly WWE Championship, it felt like the next natural step in his title storyline would have been for him to receive more believers, much like Rowan, who could back up everything he says.

Interestingly, Bryan’s comments after Extreme Rules also mentioned how he still needs to save the planet, so it is surely not too far-fetched to think that he could potentially surround himself with more Superstars in the future.

#3 Become a borderline babyface

Remember when Kevin Owens hit Roman Reigns with a Stunner at the 2017 Royal Rumble? Well, he was the top heel on Raw at the time but he still occasionally produced crowd-popping moments like that to provoke a positive reaction from the audience.

Daniel Bryan, in contrast, has been the ultimate heel ever since he won the WWE Championship from AJ Styles on SmackDown Live in November 2018. However, as the man himself said, he has been stuck in “mediocrity” ever since he lost the title at WrestleMania 35 to Kofi Kingston, so is it time to make a change?

The former “Leader of the Yes Movement” cut some of the best promos of 2018 following his heel turn – so much so that audiences were clearly enjoying his character, despite the fact that he was berating them every week – but we have hardly seen that version of him since the start of his feud with Kingston.

If Bryan is allowed to cut those entertaining promos and produce the odd crowd-popping moment, just like Owens as a heel, it would certainly freshen up his character as a singles competitor again.

#2 Feud with Aleister Black

Here are the Superstars who Daniel Bryan has faced one-on-one at PPVs since his return in April 2018: Big Cass (x2), The Miz (x2), Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles (x2), Kofi Kingston.

On the flip side, here are a select few Superstars who he hasn’t faced one-on-one at PPVs in that time: Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, Aleister Black, Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, Shinsuke Nakamura.

As you can see from that short sample, there are so many talented Superstars who Bryan could face in the future in a meaningful PPV match, with Aleister Black being one of the standout names.

“The Dutch Destroyer” has been establishing his character on SmackDown Live recently and he picked up an impressive victory over Cesaro at Extreme Rules. The next step would be a match against another Superstar who is the polar opposite to him, at least from a character perspective, and that's where Bryan comes in.

#1 Revive rivalry with Kofi Kingston

Kofi Kingston has been left without an obvious challenger for his WWE Championship at SummerSlam following his Extreme Rules victory over Samoa Joe.

Also read: 5 possible WWE Championship challengers for Kofi Kingston

Although automatic rematch clauses no longer exist for former champions in WWE, the Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan rivalry felt like it could have lasted a lot longer beyond their Match of the Night contender at WrestleMania 35.

Granted, Bryan lost what was essentially a rematch one month later on Raw, but it was a definite backwards step when the New Day member began facing Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler in PPV matches that he was inevitably going to win.

If Bryan entered the title picture in time for SummerSlam, he would represent the biggest threat to Kingston’s WWE Championship so far. And, just like at WrestleMania 35, they would likely steal the show again.