Vince McMahon Planned to Replace Bryan Danielson with Roman Reigns a Week After WrestleMania 30

Bryan Danielson is a major figure in professional wrestling today thanks to all of his contributions to the business. He saw great success in WWE but it appears Vince McMahon planned on replacing Danielson with Roman Reigns just a week after WrestleMania 30.

The American Dragon spent many years with WWE, where he was a top star. Toward the end of his time there, Bryan Danielson was also involved with WWE Creative, earning the respect of many within the company. Danielson also won the WWE and World Heavyweight Titles at WrestleMania 30, marking a historic moment for Danielson.

While speaking to TMZ, Bryan Danielson said that even when he won the World Championship at WrestleMania 30 in WWE, he wasn’t considered their top guy. He explained that despite his victory, WWE had plans to transition to making Roman Reigns their main guy. Danielson recounted a conversation with Vince McMahon where Vince laid out their plans a week after WrestleMania 30: after a few title defenses, Danielson would face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, where Lesnar would defeat him to build up Lesnar for Reigns. Vince envisioned Reigns as the next John Cena.

“Even in WWE, when I won the World Championship at WrestleMania 30, I wasn’t their guy. They still had plans, like, ‘Okay, we really want to transition to Roman Reigns being the guy.’ Vince legitimately sat me down and told me that. It was really funny because the conversation was like, ‘Okay, so we have these great plans—this is like a week after I had won the title or whatever—and we’ve got these big plans. We’ll have a couple of title defenses for you between now and SummerSlam, but at SummerSlam, you’ll wrestle Brock Lesnar and he’ll destroy you. Then we’ll build up Brock Lesnar for Roman Reigns, and Roman will be the next John Cena.’

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Danielson responded by expressing his desire to be the next John Cena himself. He recalled Vince’s surprise at this ambition and how Vince backtracked on his initial stance, saying that nobody could truly be the next John Cena. Danielson noted that this was the only time Vince had ever backtracked with him, highlighting that Vince had never seen him as the top guy, but rather as a necessary choice for that moment because the fans demanded it.

”He’s telling this to me, and I’m like, ‘That’s great, but I would kind of like to be the next John Cena.’ I remember seeing the look on Vince’s face where he was just like, ‘Oh, I didn’t think you even saw that as a possibility for yourself.’ It was really funny.

Then he—this is the only time Vince has ever backtracked with me—he said, ‘Well, nobody can really be the next John Cena, you know? It’s like, you know…’ But in his mind, I wasn’t the guy. I was just the guy they needed at that particular point because the fans wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

Bryan Danielson has also set the record straight on a potential WWE return. Nevertheless, Danielson has moved on from the situation is now focused on becoming the AEW World Champion at All In on August 25th, so we’ll have to see how that will turn out for him.

What do you think of this revelation brought forth by Bryan Danielson? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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