Daniel Bryan seems poised to crash the WrestleMania party

By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst

WWE Fastlane is rapidly approaching, and this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown reinforced how the upcoming event could impact WrestleMania in a big way.

The Universal Championship match at WrestleMania has been established for weeks. Edge won the Royal Rumble, then speared Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber to notify the champion that he’d be challenging for his title on "The Grandest Stage of Them All."

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Since then, it has been assumed that Roman Reigns would defend his belt at Mania against Edge in a singles match.

One Superstar who continues to plant seeds of doubt in that line of thinking, however, is Daniel Bryan.

Before Edge moved from Raw to SmackDown after winning the Royal Rumble, it was assumed by many that Daniel would be in the Universal title match at WrestleMania due to his feud with Roman slowly building for months.

As you’ll recall, Daniel returned from a hiatus in October of last year and saw himself in a Survivor Series team qualifying match that he lost to Jey Uso. After the match was over, Jey brutalized Bryan like a sacrificial lamb to show that he was finally acknowledging Roman as his "Tribal Chief."

In the weeks that followed, Uso developed a new mean streak to gain acceptance from his cousin, and Daniel caught the brunt of it.

As Royal Rumble season approached, Bryan began to put the pieces in place for a possible WrestleMania showdown with Reigns, as he talked on multiple occasions about his desire to win the Rumble for the first time and earn a title match against Roman to put an end to their issues.

That didn’t happen though. Edge won the match.

Like I stated at the top, "The Rated-R Superstar" went on to choose Roman as his WrestleMania opponent.

When Daniel Bryan was confirmed as one of the Elimination Chamber participants, I assumed he’d win the Chamber, then lose to Roman in the title match and eventually talk his way into a rematch at Fastlane so the slow burn wouldn’t go to waste.

All that happened.

Now, though, with the way things have been playing out on SmackDown, it seems like Daniel might play a bigger role at WrestleMania than I anticipated a few weeks ago.

I can’t help but think that if Daniel were going to lose to Roman Reigns at Fastlane and move on to something else before WrestleMania, WWE wouldn’t be teasing the possibility of Bryan wrestling against Edge as much as it has been lately.

There was playful banter between them backstage and animosity over Daniel trying to force his way into the title match, and this week on SmackDown, Bryan ended the show by getting physical with Edge.

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I’m no mathematician, but there are fewer than 30 days until WrestleMania and only one additional pay-per-view before the event, so that doesn’t leave a lot of time to squeeze out a match between Daniel Bryan and Edge before Mania.

A dream match of that caliber shouldn’t just be on TV, either. It deserves to be featured on a big pay-per-view. These are two Superstars beloved by fans whom we never thought we’d see return to the ring again.

This makes me wonder if the Road to WrestleMania will instead go a different route for these performers. The new enforcer stipulation at Fastlane gives an easy path for Daniel to be screwed out of winning the title, whether it’s by Jey Uso protecting his cousin or Edge protecting his WrestleMania main event.

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This would allow an enraged Daniel to then challenge Jey Uso or Edge to a match on night one of WrestleMania with a stipulation attached: If Daniel wins, he gets added to the Universal title match on night two of WrestleMania. Classic Daniel Bryan scenario.

I realize Triple Threat World title matches at WrestleMania aren’t always looked upon as ideal, but I think these three would create magic in the ring together, and the story seems to be right there.

This would also give an out for Edge losing his first title match in years without being pinned, so the moment will still feel just as big once it happens for the 47-year-old Superstar.

Do you think this is where the story is going? Would you enjoy seeing a Triple Threat match at WrestleMania for the Universal Championship between Roman Reigns, Edge and Daniel Bryan?

Hit me up on Twitter @RyanSatin and let me know.