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What's the story?
As the storyline dissension between SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan continues there are many who believe that this eventual feud is leading towards Bryan's anticipated in-ring return and a match with Shane McMahon at Wrestlemania. However, Dave Meltzer's latest report suggests that none of us should get carried away
In case you didn't know...
On SmackDown LIVE Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon have been involved in a central storyline also including Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn as the two wrestlers rebel against Shane McMahon's leadership of them with Bryan caught in the middle.
It's been an excellent example of multi-layered ambiguous WWE storytelling with the lines between heel and face being blurred and the allegiances of Daniel Bryan being unclear. However, he might have just revealed his hand by booking AJ Styles to defend his title against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a Handicap match at the Royal Rumble.
The heart of the matter
The belief is that Daniel Bryan will return to the ring to face Shane McMahon and settle their differences in the best way possible, however, Dave Meltzer has commented to keep all of our feet firmly on the ground by.
As per Cageside Seats, Meltzer noted that Daniel Bryan was still not cleared to compete and that a match at Wrestlemania simply wasn't happening.
What's next?
It looks like Daniel Bryan might be aligning himself with the heels of Owen and Zayn by stacking the odds against popular WWE Champion AJ Styles at the Rumble, but we've still yet to hear Bryan's motivation on making the match and Shane McMahon's reaction to it.
Author's take
If Meltzer is correct and the rumored match between Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon doesn't happen then what is the payoff for all of this? It makes no sense for Bryan and McMahon to become such a focal point of SmackDown LIVE for so long for there not to be a match at the end of it, even if Bryan picks a 'surrogate' it still won't make sense.
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