WWE Rumors: Will Roman Reigns or Daniel Bryan Face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31?

This week's edition of Monday Night Raw featured Triple H's big announcement that Daniel Bryan would face Seth Rollins later that night, and the winner would face Roman Reigns, who was victorious at the Royal Rumble, at WWE's Fast Lane pay-per-view later this month. The winner of that match would go on to face Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 31.

Bryan defeated Mr. Money in the Bank thanks to some timely intervention from Reigns, and the match for Fast Lane was set: Reigns vs. Bryan for the right to face Lesnar. For a brief, shining moment, it seemed like fans could get the match they truly wanted in Bryan vs. Lesnar. But then the reality set in that this is all just a way to legitimize Reigns' spot in the main event of Mania.

Please don't misunderstand. I am all for Roman Reigns' ascension. The amount of criticism the man has endured is unfair and, quite frankly, preposterous. There were some fans online complaining about his WWE Immortals character for goodness sake.

Reigns is nowhere near as unskilled in the ring as some fans would have you believe; in fact, he's downright talented. Just look at the spear he delivered to Big Show on Monday. He started that damn thing from the stage and literally took flight. He hung in the air for 10 seconds, easily. Roman Reigns can fly, people!

What I do have a problem with, however, is the way WWE is accelerating Reigns' timetable at great risk to his career. We covered this in greater detail last week, but Reigns' push to the top would have been completely fine if he hadn't gotten hurt for three months. He likely would have had Dolph Ziggler's spot at Survivor Series, though that is just speculation on my part, and would have looked like a true superhero headed into the Rumble. Instead, what we got reminded fans of Batista in 2014.

And of course, Daniel Bryan remains the constant. Now the answer to every WWE problem is not "push Daniel Bryan," but there's no denying that he still remains the most popular babyface on the roster by a mile. Fans want him in the main event. They want to see him fight Lesnar for the title, David vs. Goliath style.

But it's not going to happen. Roman Reigns is fighting Brock Lesnar, and he's going to win. Daniel Bryan's presence at Fast Lane serves two functions. First, it throws a bone to the fans who want to see him in the main event picture. He has his shot. If he loses, it's on him. Second, a victory over Bryan legitimizes Reigns and his spot at Mania. No one can say "Reigns doesn't deserve to be there" if he beats Bryan, because then Roman would have won the 30-man Rumble AND won an extra qualifying match, over Daniel Bryan of all people. Hell, Bryan will probably endorse Reigns after he loses.

As Triple H said on Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast after Raw on Monday, "it's working the work of the reality." WWE knows we want Bryan, so they're giving him to us. But they're doing so in a way that serves their own agenda and serves the story they want to tell.

And that's fine. At the end of the day, we're just fans. We can complain and we can voice our opinions, but it's a scripted product. If we don't like a TV show, then we stop watching it. We don't force the writers to change the ending.

But if and when Reigns goes over Bryan at Fast Lane, WWE had better be prepared for the backlash.