Roman Reigns’ SummerSlam opponent has been rumored to be Daniel Bryan. This comes as a little bit of a surprise because I, as well as most of the WWE universe, was leaning in the direction of a match with Samoa Joe (which may still happen), but a match with Daniel Bryan may be even better. Reigns has talked about this for at least a couple years now. It’s been since his match against Bryan at Fastlane 2015. And, it’s nice to finally see it come to fruition, especially when considering Bryan and Reigns have not worked together since Bryan’s return to in-ring competition at WrestleMania in 2018.
This should be a fantastic change of pace for Reigns because he has not had a ton of experience working with smaller, more technical performers who can actually wrestle like Bryan. There is also a real story there for the two men to work with, and they can make it very interesting.
The booking of this match comes at a good time for both of these guys because they are looking to change directions in their respective careers. Reigns is in the process of trying to find a new niche for his character after his second successful battle with leukemia gave him a new perspective on life. Bryan, on the other hand, is at sort of a career crossroads and is pivoting in his WWE career after an unsuccessful attempt to elevate the SmackDown tag team division.