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What's the story?
Daniel Bryan turned heel on the episode of SmackDown ahead of Survivor Series, but the current World Champion has been unable to capitalize on this with any merchandise sales.
In case you didn't know...
Daniel Bryan was one of the biggest faces on SmackDown Live and even Monday Night Raw for a long time, so much so that the WWE Universe boycotted Raw along with the former World Champion when he was refused a match at WrestleMania.
Bryan was then forced to retire from the company back in 2016 when it was revealed that his injuries were too much for him to be cleared for action on WWE TV.
The heart of the matter
Daniel Bryan's heel turn hasn't been as effective as the former World Champion would have hoped. Brad Shepard noted on the Oh, You Didn’t Know podcast that Bryan's Merchandise sales as a heel have been basically non-existent.
Whilst this isn't uncommon for heels since they are seen as the bad guys, Bryan was one of the company's biggest stars and top merchandise sellers a few weeks ago, so his royalty check for the next month is going to be much lower than he is used to.
What's next?
The fact that Bryan's merchandise isn't selling is actually a good sign since the former World Champion is a heel and it shows that his character really is hated by the WWE Universe. The heel turn is new and it will take a while for the WWE Universe to get used to so hopefully this doesn't force the company to make a knee-jerk reaction and change Bryan's current character.
Do you think the lack of merchandise sales will affect Bryan's on-screen persona? Have your say in the comments section below...
