Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar Must Happen at WrestleMania 31

Daniel Bryan is back in WWE! Yes, the WWE fans and the creative team should be excited for his return.

It’s almost the shot in the arm WWE needs at the moment. Bryan, 2014's most popular face not named John Cena, announced on the December 29 episode of Raw that he would enter the Royal Rumble. The fans erupted in a flurry of “Yes” chants when they learned their hero would finally return.

Bryan missed eight months due to neck surgery. He had no choice but to relinquish the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, unable to defend it on a regular basis. This brings us to SummerSlam of last year.

Cena regained the title but lost it to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam in embarrassing fashion. Lesnar suplexed Cena 16 times before hitting his F-5 to win the championship. He fought Cena again the next month at Night of Champions and hasn’t defended the title since.

Bryan did an interview just before SummerSlam with James Delow. He listed a few wrestlers he’d like to face when he returns. On the top of that list was Brock Lesnar.

It wouldn’t make sense on paper given his size disadvantage and skill set. But the old saying goes: Styles make fights.

The WWE needs to book Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar for WrestleMania 31. The potential is too great to miss the boat in booking this match.

For starters, the well-known tale of David vs. Goliath is timeless. Lesnar is billed at 6’3” and 286 pounds (Goliath), and Bryan, on the other hand, is listed as 5’10” and 210 pounds (David). On paper, the battle would be presented as “The Beast vs. The Beard.” The skill set unquestionably reveals more than the slogan.

Lesnar is known for his brute force and his amateur wrestling background. Bryan is billed as a high-flyer and submission expert and is also noted for his vicious strikes. The possible brutality in this match deserves the spotlight.

Secondly, the story is more than just the biblical analogy. Bryan was the champion who technically was never defeated for the title. Lesnar defeated Cena, who was seemingly a placeholder until the true champion arose. In other words, Lesnar isn’t the true champion.

If Lesnar is still the champ and Bryan wins the Rumble, we can witness an undisputed bout for the WWE championship. If both men fail, the match still deserves to take place for the same reason. Bryan can say how Lesnar wasn’t really a champion, while Paul Heyman can sell the potential match better than anyone else.

This bout can have Lesnar do something different. Think about all of the opponents Lesnar has faced since his return the Raw after WrestleMania 28: John Cena, Triple H, Undertaker, Big Show and CM Punk. Triple H and Punk are the only two new guys who Lesnar fought in this latest run. He battled the other three before in 2002 and 2003. That’s not giving us fresh matches to witness.

Granted, Lesnar will fight Seth Rollins and Cena at the Rumble in a Triple Threat match. It’s slightly different but not as exciting.

The big factor is that Bryan wants this match. He stated how he and Lesnar could bring something different WWE fans have never seen yet: "One of the things that kills me about this is if I were champion right now I’d be wrestling Brock Lesnar and that’s the match I’ve always really wanted. I feel like we could do something completely different that people [wouldn’t] have seen before in the United States. That’s the match I really, really want."

Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar must happen at WrestleMania 31. It’s the match Bryan wants, and frankly, it’s the match WWE needs. Time to send these two on the road to WrestleMania.