There's been a lot of speculation that WWE may have "punished" Daniel Bryan on Tuesday's episode of SmackDown Live (when he lost his WWE Championship match against AJ Styles) because he refused to compete at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. However, Wrestling Observer Live's Bryan Alvarez has now confirmed that the match ended exactly as it was going to at the controversial PPV.
Like Rusev before him, Bryan's match was a one-and-done and WWE clearly still doesn't view Bryan as a top star despite doing everything they could to sign him to a new contract in September.
"I am told that the finish from Smackdown last night was the Crown Jewel finish," Alvarez notes. "Looks like no big plans for Daniel Bryan throughout the rest of the year." What comes next for the leader of the Yes Movement? That's hard to say but he clearly won't be back in the WWE Championship picture and may be shuffled down the card. The question is, will fans protest that again?