Views From The Turnbuckle: Daniel Bryan Vs. Roman Reigns And Who Should Win The 2015 Royal Rumble

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A report coming from the most reliable news source around (some guy on Reddit) that there is a divide between WWE management on who should win the Royal Rumble. In one corner, there is the top prospect in WWE, someone WWE hasn't been shy about pushing to the moon; it is former Shield member Roman Reigns. In the other corner, there is the fan-favorite, Daniel Bryan. The two men could hardly be any more different, and they each offer their own benefits on winning the Royal Rumble and moving on to main event Wrestlemania for the WWE Championship.

First, let's look at Daniel Bryan. In the same report, it was stated that some people in management still feel like Daniel Bryan is a "B player." This is impossible to believe, as it is literally ripped right out of kayfabe and then tossed into a legitimate report that all fans are supposed to believe as being fact. If WWE really felt like Bryan wasn't worth a top position in WWE, they wouldn't have had him win the world title last year at Wrestlemania by defeating Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista all in the same night. When managements original plan of having Batista be the big babyface for Wrestlemania flopped big time, WWE turned to Bryan to save the day, and it was met with excellent results. That is more indicative of how WWE feels about Bryan than what some ex-employee on Reddit says.

The case for Bryan is pretty self-explanatory. He is overwhelmingly the most beloved performer that they have a full-time basis, and if they were really stuck and had no ideal plans for the Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania, then their best bet would be to give it to Bryan because they now that at least the fans are going to cheer for him if he wins. He is a world-class wrestler in the ring, can have a great match with anyone, no matter how limited of a worker they may be. He has a ton of charisma and always gets the loudest pop of the night whenever he is on television.

But there are some negatives when it comes to choosing Bryan as the go to guy for Wrestlemania. The first thing is his health, a legitimate concern after what happened last year. WWE spent six months building up Bryan and making him the champion and the ace for their company, only for him to get hurt and leave a gaping hole in the company for seven months. It may be unfair to blame Bryan for his injuries, but you wouldn't want to put all of your eggs back into his basket after you already got burned once. Bryan can still be a major figure for WWE, but if he isn't in the main event or winning the world title, you at least won't get completely rocked if he were to get injured again.

A second reason against Bryan is that he actually doesn't really need to win the Royal Rumble, or main event Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania season is a time to firmly establish guys as major stars in the company, as Bryan knows because he was the big beneficiary of last year's show. While winning the Royal Rumble and then the title at Wrestlemania would get a great reaction from the fans, it wouldn't really do anything to establish Bryan's status as a top guy in the company, since he is already there. In a sense, he has already reached his limit when it comes to star making opportunities (and it has worked out nicely, he is the most popular wrestler in the world) so it is time to give it on to somebody else.

Bryan is going to be a major star at Wrestlemania regardless of whether he is in the main event or not, but the same cannot be said for Roman Reigns and other stars. Why have one major star at Wrestlemania, when you can have two? To draw an analogy, say you are throwing a dinner party for 10 people. Everyone going to the party loves apple pie and expects apple pie to be there. However, when you go to the grocery store, they don't have the proper ingredients for apple pie, they only have the makings for cherry pie. However, you notice that they have ready made apple pies for sale in the bakery. You wonder what you should do and decide to get the ingredients for cherry pie, and buy the apple pie. After all, apple pie is going to be at the party anyways, so why not make cherry pie to see if anybody likes that? Having two pies is better than one pie, and since you are already giving people what they want, why not give another pie a chance, so that maybe next time you throw a dinner party, everyone will be excited for your cherry pie as well as your apple pie?

So then we get to Roman Reigns, someone who very well could be the cherry pie of Wrestlemania. Reigns is someone who WWE has not-so-subtlety picked as the next megastar for their company, someone who is going to carry the company for the next ten years. Reigns has been much maligned in recent weeks, but he has a lot of qualities that make a wrestler a star. He has the right "look" that WWE executives crave, and while he isn't a great worker in the ring right now, he has made strides in the past year and hits the moves he does now with a lot of confidence and charisma. As much as some hardcore fans may have distaste for him, he isn't getting booed out of arenas and gets one of the better pops each time he enters the ring. He isn't necessarily good on the microphone, in fact he isn't even average, and it is that aspect of his character that he is going to have to work on the most if he ever wants to be a top guy in WWE. You simply cannot have a top guy who cannot talk on the microphone, unless he has a mouthpiece like Brock Lesnar does.

Reigns has also suffered from some booking quandaries, where WWE is trying a little bit too hard to make him look strong heading into Wrestlemania season. A perfect example of this would be this past Monday on Raw. In furthering his feud with Big Show, Show attempted a beat down of Reigns. Utilizing the steel steps, Show attempted to crush Reigns, but Reigns popped back up and speared Big Show and then walked away triumphantly. Instead of letting Show crush Reigns and get some heat, in turn making fans more sympathetic towards Reigns when he wrestles Big Show at the Royal Rumble, WWE just had Reigns steamroll Show and go on his merry way, because Reigns has to look strong at every single opportunity. It is backwards booking, and WWE is walking a fine line with it. Fans really don't like being told who to cheer for, and if they keep constantly having Reigns roll over his opponents, they might just turn on him.

And that last point is why Daniel Bryan should win the Royal Rumble and go on to main event Wrestlemania. Winning the Rumble and the world title at Wrestlemania may not do a whole lot to improve Bryan's career (and that is only because of how successful he already is) but it is certainly not going to hurt it. Reigns winning the Rumble and then the world title at Wrestlemania has the potential to do more harm than good to his career. Part of the reason Bryan got so over was that he wallowed around in the mid-card for a few years, allowing his momentum to build steadily and organically. Reigns is only 29 years old, there is no reason to rush him right into the main event before he is ready. Let him sit around and sharpen his skills and refine his natural gifts, building momentum on a lower level. When fans start to get upset that he isn't in the world title picture (like they were when Bryan didn't win the Rumble last year) then you know that he is ready to make the plunge. If WWE wants to make Reigns into as big of a star as Bryan is, that is route they should take.