Has Reigns already taken Bryan's place?

[Brad.]

This week, RAW, Main Event and SmackDown (yeah, small spoilers) have all ended with Reigns standing tall in the ring, building him as the favourite to win the Championship on Sunday. Now, I doubt Reigns is winning the title at MITB, but you can't argue that he is currently being booked as the strongest babyface in the company, besides Cena. Meanwhile, they announced Bryan would be appearing for the first time in weeks… on a PPV pre-show. Shouldn't his first appearance back be built up as a huge moment? Would they have done that with Cena?

 

[The GOAT]

Well, to be fair, when Cena was injured in October of 2012, they put him on the pre-show of the HIAC 2012 PPV. Sure, he showed up and worked Raw leading up to it unlike what Bryan is doing right now, but Bryan's injury is more serious and requires him to take more time off and there's only so much he can do on-screen when he's stripped of the title and unable to compete. Plus with him just being married to Brie Bella (and her taking time off as well), he probably wants to relish the time off to spend with her at home anyway.

Reigns is who they intend on being their next big star, so of course they're gonna highlight him as much as possible in Bryan's absence. Hell, they were already casting just as much of a spotlight on him as they were with Bryan even before Bryan's injury.

 

[Red Rain]

Reigns hasn't taken Bryan's place at all.
Bryan's place is as a workhorse who can open or close shows and get the crowd involved.
Daniel Bryan brings a Ric Flair-type of talent to the company that I'm not sure Reigns will ever be asked to.
To that end, Reigns will get pushes Bryan will not. Reigns push would have taken place whether Bryan was injured or healthy