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In this week's episode of SmackDown, Jey Uso defeated Daniel Bryan in a Survivor Series Qualifying Match. After the match, Uso finally acknowledged Roman Reigns as The Tribal Chief and delivered a vicious beatdown to Bryan. As such, Bryan-Reigns showdown at Royal Rumble would be great long term storytelling and a match that would be five years in the making.
A Journey Back In Time
There is no guarantee that WWE will go this route, not to mention the fact that the event is still three months away. If we flashback to Royal Rumble 2014, many fans were expected Bryan to enter and win the annual battle royal.
Then, the music for the final entrant hit, and Rey Mysterio came out instead. The crowd began to sour on the match, and the eventual winner, Batista. This came one year before Reigns infamously won the 2015 Rumble match and many fans rejected him. Up until his leave of absence in 2018 due to leukemia, The Big Dog never fully recovered from that.
The fans resented Reigns’ push and showered him with boos everywhere he went. Reigns and Bryan really didn’t have much interaction beyond this. They had a number one contender’s match at Fastlane 2015. Due to Bryan’s injuries, Reigns and The Planet's Champion were only involved in a storyline last summer where Bryan seemed to cause numerous incidents backstage. However, WWE eventually revealed it to be Rowan instead. Later, Bryan and Reigns teamed up to take on Rowan and Luke Harper before going their separate ways.
Fast Forward five years later (six at the time of the 2021 Royal Rumble), Reigns is the top heel in WWE and currently enjoying the best run of his career, possibly surpassing his run with The Shield. He is finally becoming the huge star WWE wanted him to be from the start. How can they apply this to Daniel Bryan?
A Look Into The Possible Future
Reigns could come out and blame the fans for his change in attitude. He can say that he tried to be the superhero that the fans wanted him to be, but instead of cheering him, they booed him out of every arena. Now, he only cares about himself and providing for his family. He can blame Bryan for causing the fans to turn on him because they were behind the leader of the Yes Movement in 2015.
As for how they can get from where we are now to the 2021 Royal Rumble, it's quite simple. WWE can explain that the beatdown Bryan suffered was so severe that it will put him out of commission for multiple months. This will keep Bryan off of TV for a while, much like he was recent during his feud against "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.
After Survivor Series, WWE can book Reigns in a one-off match with someone like Rey Mysterio or Kevin Owens. Mysterio would make sense because Reigns is all about family, which has also been the legendary luchador's main focus as of late. Owens would make sense because The Prizefighter hinted that he and Bryan could form a tag team after he moved to the blue brand.
This would also be similar to Bryan's feud with The Fiend where The Miz had a one-off match with Wyatt at TLC 2019. Reigns would face one of them in December and win. Afterward, Reigns can come out to celebrate his win when Bryan returns from the beatdown Jey gave him. Then, he could challenge the Universal Champion to a match at the Royal Rumble, the place where the fans first began to turn on Reigns thanks to Bryan in his eyes.
If WWE plays their cards correctly and brings up Reigns and Bryan's past from the 2015 Rumble, they can add another dimension to The Tribal Chief, giving him another reason as to why he turned heel. They can also produce more amazing long-form storytelling that dates back five years ago.
