As many of you saw last night, WWE Smackdown kicked off with Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, and Jey Uso giving a 10-bell salute for Daniel Bryan, who is no longer under contract with the company.
The segment “got everybody talking backstage” in a good way, according to Ringside News.
RSN added that the 10-bell salute portion of the segment was not something that was in the script for the show. Obviously, Heyman would have had to clear this with Vince McMahon and it looks like he was given the “all clear” to say what came naturally to him on the mic. Reigns and Heyman are two of the people in the company who are given more leeway with their promos.
RSN added that people backstage were “cracking up” during the segment and a member of the creative team wondered what the segment would have been like with a live crowd.
As noted earlier this week, Bryan is legitimately a free agent and it’s anyone’s guess as to what he will do next. He could show up on AEW or New Japan Pro Wrestling TV in the coming weeks and months but WWE is pushing hard to get him to sign a new contract.
If Bryan returns to WWE, they can put him back in a feud with Reigns or move him to NXT or Raw. For now, Reigns is moving into a new feud with Cesaro and they are teasing that Jimmy Uso could be joining his faction.
