Daniel Bryan is the king of controversy amongst fans, whether it losing his hard fought title at Summer Slam immediately after winning it, having stripped after winning it a month later due to a fast count, not performing in the Royal Rumble or having to beat Triple H to be included in the main event at Wrestlemania. Daniel Bryan has become the wrestle fans identify with, and these fans feel betrayed when adversity is thrown upon Daniel Bryan in perceived unfair ways by ‘The Authority’.
But now we have a situation where an injury may force Daniel Bryan from competing for 1-3 months, although the WWE is doing a fantastic job in hiding exactly how long he will be out. For the purpose of this article let us say he is out until July as originally reported. This means that the WWE World Heavyweight Championship will possibly be undefended until Battle Ground or Summer Slam. I personally feel this is too long for the WWE not to have its main title defended, which brings us to the question what should be done with Daniel Bryan and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship?
Currently we have a situation where Stephanie McMahon is demanding Daniel Bryan hand over the title. This has allowed Daniel Bryan to continue his battle with ‘The Authority’ in a non-contact way, and allow Daniel Bryan to keep his title he earned. However if Daniel Bryan is, as first reported, out until July/August then this back and forth between Daniel & Stephanie will get tiresome pretty quickly.
The WWE needs it major title defended on its pay per views, so Daniel Bryan may be forced to hand over his title, and then on return chase the title again. The only negative to this, is that we have the same situation as last year, and as over as Daniel Bryan is, I feel rehashing this story line again so soon may in fact be detrimental to Daniel Bryan and his popularity. However, if he was to win the title straight away on his return, then we can continue where we left off on his injury, this however means we need a transitional champion for a couple of months. So the WWE has two options here, they can either reward a long time WWE Superstar, such as Kane, or test the waters with a new champion such as Roman Reigns. Here is my top 6 options to be a transitional Champion until Daniel Bryan returns.
I will start with my top 3 older WWE superstars that the WWE could reward with a small championship run:
- Kane – this would make the most sense as Kane was the one to injury Daniel Bryan, and on return this would make the ultimate revenge for Daniel, to beat Kane and win back the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This would also allow a nice finally main event rune for Kane.
- Christian – While I am showing some bias here, I have always felt his 2 title runs were over shadow by others, Edge and Randy Orton. Similar to Kane, a final run at main eventing the WWE, would allow Christian to retire on a high. A match between Christian and Daniel Bryan would also not disappoint anyone in terms of quality.
- Triple H – Image the headlining match at Summer Slam 2014, between Daniel Bryan and Triple H. This would allow for a nice 12 month cycle to occur, with Daniel Bryan winning the Title at Summer Slam against the man who cost him the title their exactly one year ago…..this stuff sometimes just writes itself!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3_mOqoC5Oo[/youtube]
Here are my top 3 up and coming superstars that the WWE could test to see if they could be future main event WWE World Heavy Weight Champions:
- Roman Reigns – With the push this man has received in the last 12 months, this would be a great test to see if it has all been worth it. Can Roman Reigns fully break away from The Shield, and be ‘the man’ the WWE is hoping he can be. A taste of the title around his waist and the reaction from fans may go a long way to answering if the push was worth it.
- Cody Rhodes – On the verge so many times, this period could be a career defining moment for Cody Rhodes. A small WWE World Heavyweight Championship run can show those unsure about his draw power whether he can in fact be the main man in the WWE.
- Cesaro – Paul Heyman has been so smug and annoying since Brock Lesnar defeated ‘The Streak’, imagine how smug and annoying he would be with another one of his clients as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It would also give those fans who think Cesaro is just a giant swing proof he is a future main event star. We have also already seen what Cesaro and Daniel Bryam can produce together and I for one would love to see it again.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3_mOqoC5Oo[/youtube]
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AS A TRANSITIONAL WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION?
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