John Cena is one of the most popular stars ever in the WWE. Not only was he popular among the WWE fans, he managed to break into the mainstream. It is no wonder that the promotion is constantly looking for the next John Cena. Daniel Bryan may not be as popular as Cena is, but he is undoubtedly one of WWE’s biggest baby faces ever. He had the potential to become the next biggest star in the promotion, but the WWE told him very early on what they really thought of him.
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Bryan had to beat Triple H in the opening match of WrestleMania to be inserted into the main event later that night, which he did. He then bested both Dave Batista and Randy Orton to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Any hopes that the company would see him as their next top star was dashed immediately after the main event.
Daniel Bryan was told he was not the next John Cena right after WrestleMania XXX
Daniel Bryan, who now goes by Bryan Danielson, revealed in a recent interview with Uproxx, what the WWE told him immediately after the conclusion of WrestleMania XXX.
“After WrestleMania 30, when I had won the championship and just main evented WrestleMania, they had a meeting with me where it was like, ‘Okay, what we’d really like is to do is to set this other guy up to be the guy.’ I think the phrase was the next John Cena. And I was like, ‘I would like to be the next John Cena,’ [and they said] nobody can be John Cena,” Danielson recalled.
It is possible that the person he is talking about was Roman Reigns. Reigns was the wrestler eliminated by Batista to win the 2014 Royal Rumble, and this was at the cusp of John Cena transitioning into a part time performer.
Bryan Danielson says his favorite WWE moment was watching Kofi Kingston win the WWE Championship
Danielson had a fairytale run to the main event of WrestleMania XXX. However, that was not his favorite moment in the promotion. Instead, his favorite moment was watching Kofi Kingston beat him at WrestleMania to become the WWE Champion.
“You can look at Kofi and be like ‘Wow, that’s the kind of person I also want to be. One that inspires you to keep being a better person. And he does it through the ups and downs. So, doing the match with Kofi and then also meeting his family after was just really cool, too. I think that experience and that whole night was one of my favorite nights in my wrestling career,” Danielson told My San Antonio.
Kingston had his own Daniel Bryan moment at WrestleMania 35. With the fans fully behind him, Danielson along with Vince McMahon played the role of the oppressor instead.
Ultimately, Kingston earned his opportunity and won the coveted WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
Unfortunately, Kingston had a shockingly miserable end to his reign by losing to Brock Lesnar in a matter of seconds. Danielson has cited this moment as the one that demoralized him the most.
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