Daniel Bryan

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Punk Talks Possible Matches vs. Omega, Triple H

CM Punk has not wrestled since 2014, but he remains open to the idea of returning should the right situation be laid out in front of him.

In an interview with Raj Prashad of Uproxx, Punk discussed what it would take for him to return to the ring and what he believes the most compelling matches available to him may be.

Punk specifically mentioned who it would make the most sense for him to face in both AEW and WWE:

"From a creative mind standpoint, stepping back and looking at the landscape of everything, there are people in WWE that I have wrestled before that maybe, in a certain situation could be interesting. There's also the business side of things. What's the biggest possible match for CM Punk? I think there's Kenny Omega on the one side.

"And, you know, unfortunately, ironically enough, for me to go back to WWE, who's the biggest match for me? It's probably Triple H. That's ironic because it's nothing I'm interested in. It's just what it is. Am I going to be a businessman and say that's the match, that's the big-money match? Well, it's not my money, so it's not for me to say."

In terms of AEW, there is no question that Omega is the most logical opponent for Punk. Omega is the reigning AEW World champion and considered by many to be the best in-ring worker in the world, which is a title Punk once held.

Punk vs. Omega is also a match that has never happened, so there would be no shortage of excitement within the wrestling world about it happening.

Punk's claim about Triple H being his most compelling opponent in WWE is a bit more questionable, although it is understandable where he is coming from.

After leaving WWE in January 2014, Punk made it clear that he was frustrated with his direction, as he was slated to face Triple H at WrestleMania 30 and had no interest in doing so.

Punk has already wrestled Triple H many times, and while there would be some intrigue given how fans are aware of the circumstances surrounding Punk's departure, there are likely better matches for him in WWE.

The one that stands out above all else is a clash with Universal champion Roman Reigns, who is arguably the best thing in wrestling right now when taking into account ring, character and mic work.

Punk and Reigns wrestled back when Reigns was in The Shield, but Roman is a completely different performer now and can legitimately stake a claim to being the best in the world.

Also, Reigns is flanked by a former Punk advocate in Paul Heyman, which would add another layer of intrigue and perhaps put Punk vs. Reigns ahead of Punk vs. Omega in terms of matches and rivalries that fans most want to see.

Info on Adding Bryan to WrestleMania Main Event

WWE announced the addition of Daniel Bryan to the main event of WrestleMania 37 just a couple of weeks before the show, but the decision was reportedly made internally well before that.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), adding Bryan to Roman Reigns vs. Edge was discussed for "well over a month" before it was announced and then set in stone the week of Fastlane, which occurred on March 21.

WWE originally announced that 2021 Men's Royal Rumble winner Edge would challenge Reigns for the Universal title at WrestleMania 37, but Bryan quickly became part of the story and had a title match against Reigns at Fastlane with Edge serving as the special enforcer.

Bryan made Reigns tap to the Yes Lock in that match, but the referee was knocked out, and Edge hit both men with a steel chair, allowing Reigns to win.

Since Bryan would have won the match had the referee been conscious, WWE official Adam Pearce announced that the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania was being changed to a Triple Threat with Bryan involved.

The match turned out to be a great one, as expected, with all three Superstars playing a pivotal role and emptying the tank on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

Reigns ultimately won the match when he hit both Edge and Bryan with a conchairto and then stacked them on top of one another and pinned them for the victory.

With the win, Reigns maintained his status as the most dominant figure in professional wrestling right now, although there is some question regarding what is next for both Edge and Bryan.

Miz Not Considering Retirement

The Miz has enjoyed a long and successful WWE career, but The A-Lister isn't ready to think about retirement.

During a Twitter Q&A, Miz was asked if he is considering retirement, and he responded: "No I'm in my prime."

At 40 years of age, The Miz has been part of the WWE main roster since 2006, and he has essentially seen and done it all.

He is the only two-time Grand Slam champion in WWE history, having won the WWE Championship, Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship and Tag Team Championships multiple times each.

Miz has also main evented a WrestleMania, and he is coming off involvement in one of WrestleMania 37's top matches, which saw him and John Morrison lose to Bad Bunny and Damian Priest.

The Miz has always been a quality utility player for WWE capable of working anywhere on the card and doing anything asked of him, and that continues to be the case.

He had the difficult task of guiding a non-wrestler to a quality match on the WrestleMania stage and did so expertly, which further proved his value to the company.

The Miz has always worked a relatively safe style in the ring and done much of his work on the mic, so even though he has been in WWE for about 15 years, he may not have the same amount of wear and tear on his body as some others who have been wrestling for as long.

Miz has done a remarkable job of taking care of himself and remaining relevant over the years, and as long as he continues to do those things, there is no reason to believe he will or should retire in the near future.

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Roman Reigns wrote a masterpiece at WrestleMania 37. 

The Tribal Chief, accompanied by Paul Heyman and Jey Uso, closed out the first event with fans in the stands in more than a year with a classic match against Edge and Daniel Bryan and a retention of his universal title that only makes the coming days, weeks and months must-see material. 

In the process, Reigns boosted his legacy so much more. This was the capper to a stunning heel turn, long wished for by fans but feared for naught, as Reigns seemed destined to go the John Cena route and never actually do it. 

He did and managed to exceed even the loftiest of expectations in the process—and one could argue there haven't been higher expectations in modern wrestling history in terms of fantasy-booking something. 

So what, did anyone really expect him to lose? 

No chance. If onlookers haven't noticed, Reigns is in the Brock Lesnar role right now. The fact that Heyman is right there is a little on the nose. But if folks haven't noticed it, there it is. He's the big bad final boss who doesn't always get the squeaky-clean win, but that's part of the game. 

Meaning, the universal champion is going to get that Lesnar-type booking, if not more so. 

And he deserves it. 

Reigns came back after another extended absence, turned heel and then used the audience-less arenas to his advantage in a way almost no other Superstar could during the pandemic era. He shook free of the silly Shield vest, added Heyman, mixed up his move set and sadistically talked down to the opponents he pulverized—which caused a big churn of the stomach when it was his own family members. 

And fans cheered it, too. The guy who couldn't seem to shake free of his prior stable, even after one of them had outright left WWE, had been shoved down the collective throats of fans for years. Yet when permitted to flip the switch, he did just that, showing a degree of range to his character work most would've never guessed he could make work. 

So, of course Reigns was going to take down the fan-favorite Bryan, who deserved to be in the match but always felt like he was just there to eat the pin so the other two guys were left looking strong. Of course, he was going to get the best of Edge, whose return from injury only to win the men's Royal Rumble always felt a little off. 

It helps that this was one of the most memorable main events in a long time. Structurally speaking, this was an amazing Triple Threat match. It was smartly plotted like a must-read New York Times bestseller. Each Superstar had some one-on-one time with each other while the odd man out was smartly discarded. Weapons came into play., and it dealt with the interference of Uso early. 

And some of the spots were about as stunning as it gets, all neatly wrapped in strong storytelling. The double-crossface where Bryan wouldn't let Reigns tap out to Edge—then joined in on the submission—before they started headbutting each other was...something else. Ditto for the ending, which featured the titleholder stacking his fallen adversaries and pinning them both. 

Sure, we could nitpick. Uso playing a pretty big role in his cousin getting the win is worth an eye roll. But that's sort of the point—unlike plenty of matches—this wasn't an ending. Consider this a speed bump for this story, with Reigns still top dog but also still a despicable heel who will flaunt like he conquered both guys. Fans know better—there's an asterisk on it. And this man had the audacity to pin two guys at once in the main event of a WrestleMania, for goodness sake. 

The best part? Everybody comes out of the match looking strong. Reigns is set up to keep fulfilling that Lesnar-type role on the SmackDown roster. Thanks to this new character work, even old feuds fans have seen rehashed plenty of times will feel fresh. 

And here's the kicker—this run by Reigns, capped off by his win Sunday night, has the potential to recolorize his past a bit. He's going to end up getting the big benefit of the doubt that his past booking, which was him using the same moves over and over and winning all the time while occupying main event spots was forced on him by WWE itself. It won't sting fans too much to rewatch some of those bleh bumps along the way knowing this is where Reigns ends up. 

Not to say that this is the end. It only feels like the beginning for this version of Reigns. He's finally reached the apex WWE so wished for him long ago, beloved by fans no matter what deeds he might commit and against whom. Ironically enough, it took WWE listening to the fans to reach this point. 

Just think, this was the first time heel Reigns performed in front of a live crowd. It's only going to get wilder from here. He's already flirting with having a run that rivals modern greats such as Cena and CM Punk in terms of fan adoration.

Cena, notably, was adored and earned the right to have endless big moments until fans soured on him. Reigns is the inverse, having just earned the right.

And in terms of having merely a run of dominance, it doesn't get more dominant than the double pin of two surefire Hall of Famers in a WrestleMania main event. Lesnar was dominant. Guys like Triple H have been. But this is a whole different level, which is deserved and should be looked back on fondly, especially if the guy to finally upend him is a critical part of the future of WWE.

Played right—and there hasn't been any indication this will go wrong—we could be throwing "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's name in there soon enough. Throw in The Rock too, as one Dwayne Johnson could be one of the big returning guys with a familiar connection who hopes to take down Reigns. 

So, if we're talking legacies, Sunday night was a critical building block for Reigns. He had already been so accomplished that it's downright jaw-dropping he's able to etch something else so positive in his legacy at this stage of his career, all while it feels like a launching-off point. 

The ability to dynamically shift now, of all times, after battling the out-of-ring issues he's encountered and doing it during the pandemic era, is downright stunning. If this hasn't put Reigns in the greatest-of-all-time discussion, the talk is pointless.

Roman Reigns beat Edge and Daniel Bryan in a Triple Threat match in the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania 37 on Sunday to retain the Universal Championship.

The Tribal Chief's title reign had appeared to be in serious danger when Edge prepared the Con-Chair-To, but Jey Uso returned to the ring after an earlier injury to make the save for his cousin.

Reigns delivered a Spear and his own Con-Chair-To on The Rated-R Superstar before piling him on top of Bryan and pinning both men to maintain his championship run.

The match was originally slated to be Reigns vs. Edge after the latter won the 2021 men's Royal Rumble match, but the complexion changed when Bryan got involved and proved he deserved to be part of the title bout at The Show of Shows as well.

The Yes! Man's insertion into the angle began at Elimination Chamber when he beat five other Superstars in a same-titled match to earn a title shot against Reigns that same night. The Tribal Chief immediately came to the ring and beat an exhausted Bryan in short order.

Bryan rightfully felt short-changed by the way things went down, leading to him lobbying for a rematch against Reigns, which he was granted after beating Uso in a steel cage match.

Edge was unhappy with Bryan getting a title shot at Fastlane and jumping the line in front of him, especially since they were originally supposed to team up against Reigns and Uso at Fastlane on March 21.

In an effort to have some involvement in that match, Edge attempted to establish himself as the special enforcer, and he earned that distinction by beating Uso in a singles match on SmackDown.

At Fastlane, the referee got knocked out during Reigns vs. Bryan, leading to Edge taking on the duties of an in-ring official. Things broke down, however, when Uso interfered and when Bryan accidentally hit The Rated-R Superstar with a steel chair.

With the referee still incapacitated, Bryan made Reigns tap to the Yes Lock, but rather than calling for the bell, Edge hit The Yes! Man with a steel chair and then struck Reigns as well before leaving.

When the referee recovered, he counted the pinfall in favor of Reigns, meaning The Tribal Chief had successfully defended the Universal Championship.

Bryan called for another opportunity on the next episode of SmackDown and piqued WWE official Adam Pearce's interest enough that he took it under consideration.

Despite Reigns and Edge lobbying against Bryan, Pearce decided to make the WrestleMania main event a Triple Threat between three of the biggest stars in the company.

Although the addition of Bryan meant Reigns could have dropped the title without being pinned or submitted, he managed to win and retain at WrestleMania, thus continuing his dominant run.

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The go-home SmackDown for WrestleMania 37 saw a ratings increase on Friday night. 

Per ShowBuzz Daily's Mitch Metcalf, Fox averaged 2,079,500 million viewers for the two-hour broadcast. 

Last week's episode drew 2.036 million viewers. Friday's show was taped in advance and was built largely around video packages and promos, as WWE is making final preparations for WrestleMania starting on Saturday night. 

The main event segment was a promo from WWE universal champion Roman Reigns. He vowed to show up at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday night and put an end to the dreams of Daniel Bryan and Edge in their Triple Threat showdown. 

Bryan and Edge also had promo segments in which both superstars made their case to leave WrestleMania with the universal title. 

There were three matches on the show, headlined by the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Jey Uso outlasted 21 other superstars to win the match. He last eliminated Shinsuke Nakamura for one of the biggest singles wins of his career. 

Other matches included Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode retaining the SmackDown tag team titles in a Fatal 4-way bout against Rey and Dominik Mysterio, The Street Profits, and Chad Gable and Otis. Ziggler stole a pin by covering Gable after Angelo Dawkins hit him with a frog splash. 

Tamina defeated Nia Jax by disqualification in a singles match between two superstars who could square off for the women's tag team titles at WrestleMania. Jax and Shayna Baszler will defend their titles on night two against the winners of Saturday's tag team turmoil match. 

Overall, it wasn't the most memorable SmackDown of all time. But it served its purpose as building up all of the key matches for WrestleMania.