When Nexus invaded RAW back in 2010, the faction brutally attacked John Cena and tore up the arena to make a statement. At ringside, Daniel Bryan used Justin Roberts' tie to choke him, a piece of imagery Vince McMahon really wasn't happy about in the midst of the PG era.
As a result, Bryan was fired, but he would make a surprise return to the company just months later at SummerSlam. During the latest edition of his "ARN" podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and All Elite Wrestling star Arn Anderson reflected on that, and whether Bryan's shock firing was a real incident or just a worked twist in a much larger story.
"I don’t think this was something that was planned from the beginning," Anderson explained. "I think he did get fired. 100% got fired but I think the backlash from the audience maybe caused him to rethink it and put it back together because Daniel would have never booked himself, if this was going to be just some phantom angle, he would not have booked himself for those other promoters because that is where his beginnings were. He was loyal to the indies. He was loyal to those promoters."
"He would not have booked himself with those companies knowing that he was going to cancel later," the legend continues. "It doesn’t sound right to me. He was booking his living going forward figuring it was over for him in WWE. I think that the backlash caused him to rethink this and they put this angle together. They sat on it pretty good. So it was a surprise for the most part."
That does make sense, and while WWE does often fool fans, it seems highly unlikely that they faked Bryan's firing just for the sake of that surprise SummerSlam twist. Stranger things have happened, of course, but Bryan pointed to his firing being very real in his autobiography a few years back.
What do you think?