WWE Allegedly Has Cutthroat Reasons for Turning Daniel Bryan Heel

During the close of 2017, it looked like Shane McMahon would become the proverbial corrupted authority figure on SmackDown. However, as of late, it's been Daniel Bryan who's acting out of character and reports suggest that WWE has a vested interest in turning him, not Shane, to the dark side.

There's a real-life conflict brewing between Bryan and WWE. The former is dying to wrestle again now that he believes he's healthy. However, WWE, for an abundance of reasons, WWE isn't interested in that idea and would still prefer to keep Bryan in the company, but not as a wrestler. According to WrestlingNewsWorld, WWE offered Bryan a generous contract extension that would pay him the downside guarantee of the main event wrestler (likely well into the millions). But Bryan reportedly declined the offer, thus forcing WWE to come up with a new plan - turning him heel.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported last week that WWE was considering a heel turn for Bryan, but it may an act of gamesmanship rather than on-screen entertainment. Bryan has been vocal in intentions to wrestle again; going as far as stating that he'll happily wrestle outside of WWE when his contract expires. With those plans in mind, the Observer noted that WWE may turn Bryan heel to negatively impact his popularity with wrestling fans.

There's a lot of speculation swirling about, but this story's foundation may hold water. Just weeks ago, it seemed that it would be Shane McMahon who turned heel on Daniel Bryan in the name of his gluttonous vendetta against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. However, over the course of the last 2 episodes of SmackDown, it's Bryan who has been acting shady. Why the change?

There may be reasons that we simply do not have access to, but WWE vindictively turning Bryan heel to hurt his reputation isn't the craziest of concepts. WWE didn't monopolize professional wrestling by playing nice and there a long list of salty wrestlers who would love to tell you how WWE once did them dirty.

If Bryan did, in fact, turn down WWE's handsome offer, it's not hard to imagine WWE turning real-life heel on him.

Despite his efforts, it doesn't look like Bryan will ever wrestle in WWE again, however, it does appear he will wrestle as he's already teasing a match with Cody Rhodes.

We don't know when Bryan's WWE contract is set to expire, but we can assume it will lift some time in 2018. In the meantime, watch for Bryan to double down on his heeldom during the march to WrestleMania. All signs point to Shane McMahon wrestling at WrestleMania 34 and Daniel Bryan will figure into that match one way or another. At this moment, it looks like he'll be playing the story's antagonist.