Former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan has been moved to the alumni section of the official website of the company.
DANIEL BRYAN IS IN BETWEEN SANDOW AND YOUNG IN THE ALUMNI SECTION
The alumni section of the website, of course, deals with the former professional wrestlers who once wrestled for the company or backstage personnel who once worked with the company. The inclusion of Daniel Bryan in between the names of Damien Sandow (now wrestling as Aron Stevens in NWA) and Darren Young (now wrestling under his real name Fred Rosser in NJPW Strong) is sure to raise eyebrows.
WWE is, however, known to put active wrestlers in the alumni section of their official website to advance storylines. It usually happens when the company decides to add legitimacy to a storyline where an active superstar announces retirement, resignation from the company and related actions. Recently, Roderick Strong was added to the section after he announced his resignation, as a part of a storyline, from the company.
BRYAN, OF COURSE, HAS A STORYLINE REASON TO GET PLACED IN THE ALUMNI SECTION
Bryan, of course, has a storyline reason to be placed in the alumni section. His recent loss to Roman Reigns in a match for the latter’s WWE Universal Championship means he is barred to wrestle or appear in SmackDown Live. The exile from the brand he has been an integral part of since the second brand split means he will look for new hunting grounds, in this case amongst the two options available: Raw and SmackDown.
While Raw seems to be a logical choice for the former WWE Champion, as most of his great pre-brand split moments happened in the Monday Night show, including a memorable moment where staged fans occupied the show alongside him in order to force Triple H to battle him at WrestleMania 30. Another moment had Bryan cheered for during a Championship unification moment, to a degree that fellow former World Champion Mark Henry raised his hand to the delight of the audience, and Rey Mysterio rubbed his shirt, a ritual showing respect for the popularity of the man.
However, many fans want him to join NXT. The black and gold brand is the home for the most physical and exciting wrestlers in the company, and fans want many of the dream matches of some of these superstars versus him to take place before he slowly drifts away from professional wrestling.