The REAL Reason John Cena And Daniel Bryan Are Missing WWE Crown Jewel

NO! You Can't See Me.

By Michael Hamflett /

WWE

It was in 2012 that a bizarre picture circulated of John Cena and Daniel Bryan’s shared Christmas Day by the Bella tree. The two were typically world’s apart visually, save for their shared embrace of then-father-in-law Jon Garcia. Cena was bursting out of his gym top (Christmas Day, mate!) like a halfway-home Hulk, compared to Bryan looking every bit like the staffer in a the supplements store selling him his vitamins. In that moment of festive familiarity though, they became oddly unified in minds eyes of the wrestling audience as a result.

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It had been their respective relationships with Nikki and Brie that brought them to the same place at the same time that Christmas, but a scintillating SummerSlam 2013 main event was a match so sublime that it established them as brothers of an entirely different kind. Albeit in extremely divergent ways, Cena and Bryan exhibited a shared love for their chosen art form that was earnest and pure.

Regardless of his Hollywood commitments in 2018, John Cena's disarming earnestness still has all the bounce of his well-conditioned new side-parting. Daniel Bryan had a similar level of purity behind his eyes when he announced his return to the ring earlier this year.

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For complex reasons - some different, many the same - Cena and Bryan have taken an earnest and pure look at a card grossly lacking in both and turned it down, gambling what little job security they actually require in life. Though safe for them to do, it’s still an admirable stance taken in a challenging time, but what are the wider ramifications for both now the decisions have been made? And why have they done this now?

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