5 reasons why Daniel Bryan quietly turned babyface at a WWE Live Event

If you're not up to date, a rather interesting occurence happened this past weekend at WWE's East Asian Live Events. Kofi Kingston was naturally the headliner, since he was in the tour where the WWE title was the main event.

The main event was a WrestleMania 35 rematch, with Kofi Kingston putting the WWE Championship on the line against Daniel Bryan. Since it was a live event, Kingston won clean of course, but Daniel Bryan was quite over as a babyface.

That isn't unusual in itself, but what took people by surprise was that prior to the match, during the match and after it, Bryan was a full-fledged babyface. Not only did he shake Kingston's hand before the match, but he also raised it after he lost, giving a huge endorsement to the reigning champion.

The first question, obviously, is to ask why Daniel Bryan quietly turned face. Here are a few theories.

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#5. He's not a heel in the current storyline

Bryan received a massive beatdown on SmackDown Live

Daniel Bryan was a heel, up until Erick Rowan was revealed as Roman Reigns' mystery attacker. Soon after that, Rowan would turn on Bryan and by Clash of Champions 2019, he would align with Luke Harper once again.

The following night saw the pairing officially end as Rowan and Harper blindsided Bryan, brutally attacking him and sending him through a table. The reality is that he has already quietly been a babyface who simply exhibits heel traits. That's good because it goes consistently well with his character; he isn't just another happy babyface again without any anger or resentment.

The slow-burn has been a really interesting one to watch and it's only going to get more interesting as the storyline progresses.

#4. His heel heat has faded

Daniel Bryan was WWE's most hated heel just earlier this year

Daniel Bryan was at one point in 2019, the single most hated heel in the entire company. It was a wonder to think that even months prior, he could get negative reactions that way, but he proved what separates him from the rest and what makes him among the best.

The Kofi Kingston storyline is one main example of that. Due to Kofi Kingston gaining an unexpected amount of momentum, Bryan became the antagonist that held him back. Perhaps the most masterful piece of heel work was when Bryan used the "Yes!" gesture for the first time since his turn, only for the crowd to respond vehemently with "NO!" chants.

It was masterful storytelling and the reality is that most, if not all, of his heat ended up dying at WrestleMania 35. His turn was a raging success because it helped get Kofi Kingston over as a World Champion babyface.

The truth is that Bryan always had very little shelf-life as a heel and due to him taking a hiatus occasionally, the heat has died down quite a bit, which may be why they turned him face.

#3. To eventually turn on Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is a part of the story too

What's clear in the entire Erick Rowan-Roman Reigns attacker storyline is that we're going to be getting an alliance between two top stars in Reigns and Daniel Bryan. When they met in the past, they clashed heads, but for the first time, they'll be properly aligning together as a tag team (we're not counting Bryan's alliance with The Shield) and it's going to lead to a huge tag team match at WWE Hell in a Cell 2019.

If WWE is planning an alliance between Reigns and Bryan, it's possible that they could play it out on SmackDown over the next few months even after being done with Rowan and Harper. Obviously, the objective would be to go over them, but once that story is done, fans are obviously going to hope that the payoff would be Reigns vs Bryan and not Reigns vs Rowan again.

It could result in a proper heel turn and another incredible run for the New Daniel Bryan.

#2. A potential switch to RAW

Could we see Bryan on RAW?

As we know, the WWE draft will be taking place on Friday Night SmackDown on October 11th and pouring onto Monday Night RAW on October 14th. The roster is going to have a bit of a shake-up, though rumors have suggested that there won't be as many changes, as the Superstar Shake-Up this year was done to get to October.

Either way, Daniel Bryan has been a SmackDown guy through and through and this dates back to even before he became General Manager in 2016. However, after he returned to in-ring competition, he was adamant that SmackDown would be the place where he would perform and he has been one of the main stars on the brand since 2018.

It's highly possible that similar to AJ Styles this year, WWE may want to move Bryan to RAW for a big shake-up. If that is the case and Seth Rollins hypothetically moves to SmackDown, RAW atleast has a top babyface ready.

#1. WWE needs a babyface challenger for Brock Lesnar

Is Brock Lesnar as WWE Champion inevitable?

This coming October, on the 4th, just a couple of days removed from Hell in a Cell 2019, Brock Lesnar will wrestle his first match on free TV in over 15 years. You read that right. He'll be challenging Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship in the main event and for the third year in a row, we will most likely be getting a title change on SmackDown.

For those who asked for Kingston's title reign to end, you have seemingly got your wish. While it may seem premature to already assume that Brock Lesnar will be WWE Champion, the circumstances surrounding it make it seem like Lesnar will win the title, especially given that they want to create a big buzz on the new network.

Kingston's reign has been long, so fans can't complain that he wasn't given a fair shot. Either way, if Lesnar is the WWE Champion going forward, then it's possible that another reason why WWE has quietly turned Daniel Bryan face is that they want him to be a babyface challenger to Lesnar in the coming few months.

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