Recently, respected wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer revealed what WWE's original plans were for Daniel Bryan before he had to relinquish the WWE Wolrd Heavyweight Championship due to injury.

Daniel Bryan's retirement early in 2016 due to concussion-related issues was a huge blow to the many fans who had believed in his "Yes Movement". It's also sparked a lot of questions about what could have been, had he not suffered a string of injuries after his crowd-pleasing WWE World Heavyweight Championship win at WrestleMania XXX. Unfortunately, it seems that WWE didn't have much in store for Bryan as far as a main event push was concerned, according to a recent tweet from one of wrestling's most respected, veteran journalists.

Replying to a fan who mentioned that Bryan was extremely over with fans, with his simple, one-word “Yes!” catchphrase also gaining momentum even outside the world of pro wrestling, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter tweeted about how WWE never seemed to believe in Bryan as a credible main eventer and world champion. This was despite the fact that he was clearly the most popular wrestler WWE had at that time, one whose underdog character was easy to relate to, on top of his transcendent ability in the ring and good, if not great mic skills.

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If the rest of Meltzer's tweet is accurate, then WWE might have had Roman Reigns in mind all along as its next franchise player, even before his massive singles push kicked off, and might have intended for Bryan to be a transitional champion anyway. According to Meltzer, the plan was for Bryan to drop his title to Brock Lesnar, which, he adds, would have allowed WWE to "set up Roman as the big star."

All in all, Bryan's third and final WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign lasted only 64 days before he underwent neck surgery and was forced to relinquish his title, after barely defending it in the weeks that followed WrestleMania XXX. He returned toward the end of 2014, and while fans were incensed by his early elimination at the 2015 Royal Rumble (a match that Reigns won, much to their chagrin), he won the Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match at WrestleMania 31. Alas, he too would have to relinquish that belt due to injuries, and by February 2016, he made the sad decision to retire due to multiple concussions, after WWE's doctors refused to clear him to return to the ring.

via esquireme.com

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The possibility that Daniel Bryan's talents would have been wasted as a transitional champ as WWE built up Roman Reigns as its new alpha dog doesn't make the man's retirement at the young age of 34 any less disappointing. In fact, Meltzer's tweet only reminds us of how Vince McMahon still has a hard time taking smaller, yet technically gifted wrestlers as seriously as he should. Even with McMahon now in his early 70s and far removed from the Hulkamania Era when big men reigned supreme, it doesn't look like that's changing anytime soon.