Here’s When Vince McMahon Decided To Turn Daniel Bryan And Make Him WWE Champion

Can I get a calendar on this? Earlier this week on SmackDown Live, Daniel Bryan turned heel and won the WWE Championship from AJ Styles. Both the turn and the title change were major surprises and the reason for both of them could be up for debate. There is no secret though that they came from Vince McMahon himself. One of the interesting questions though is when did the decision for the moves take place?

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the decision to give Bryan the title came sometime over the weekend, meaning it was before the announcement of Becky Lynch’s injury and therefore wasn’t a reaction to Lynch being off Survivor Series. The heel turn on the other hand was decided on during the day of the show, with the intention of doing everything on the same day for the biggest impact possible.

It was a heck of a turn.

Daniel Bryan wins WWE Championship in shocking fashion: SmackDown LIVE, Nov. 13, 2018

Opinion: That was really quite a surprise and to be fair I can understand why they did it as fast as they did. The build to Survivor Series, which was coming off the disaster of a build to Crown Jewel, wasn’t going well and adding in something like this wasn’t the worst idea in the world. Bryan winning the title in the manner he did was indeed a shock and that’s exactly what they were going for with the move.

What did you think of the turn? How long will Bryan hold the title? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28 wrestling books. His latest book is the the Complete 2003 Smackdown Reviews.

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