WWE Payback Predictions: Daniel Bryan and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

At WWE Payback, Daniel Bryan has a huge decision to make, keep the title he’s worked his whole life for, or save his wife’s job.

Three weeks ago, Bryan announced on Raw that he would need neck surgery, and that he wasn’t sure how long he would be out, but he planned on being back as soon as possible. One week later, Stephanie McMahon didn’t want to strip Bryan of the title, so she demanded he come to Raw and voluntarily give it up. That all led to this past Monday, when Bryan appeared set to hand the title to his boss, but then gave her his trademark “No”.

Stephanie then gave Bryan a second ultimatum, telling him he had until Payback to decide if his title was worth more than his wife’s job.

There are many questions circling around the title situation,as what WWE decides to do will give some insight into how long Bryan will be out. It should be very interesting to say the least.

Let’s get to the predictions:

Stephen’s Prediction: For this, I believe Brie steps into the picture and takes a firing, thus preventing Bryan from being stripped. I’ve seen some say that Brie should go heel and get Bryan stripped of the title. But he’s been screwed over enough, and we don’t need anymore of that storyline.  It’s bad enough he’s put into this horrible Kane and Stephanie issue, when after beating Triple H, his fight with the authority should have been done.  Therefore, I see him fighting for the title and Brie’s job come Money in the Bank if he’s able to go then.

Marcus’ Prediction: Daniel Bryan will surrender the title for the sake of Brie and for the second time in the last calendar year, nobody will be champion for the forseeable future. The obvious and most likely choice is having the champion be determined at MITB. I think they use the time from Payback to MITB to determine who is going to qualify for the match.

The only problem is if they are planning on having two MITB matches again, how are they going to determine who is in what match? Who is worth enough to be in the match for the title and who is worth to be in the match for the contract? I see MITB as a PPV in the perfect spot for this injury to have taken place. They’ll have a little time to build up the match and settle it with an entertaining ladder match.

Mike’s Prediction: It’s a real tricky situation. If Bryan gives up the title for Brie, the crowd will turn on Brie. If Bryan keeps the title, the title stays off TV for a few weeks. Either way, the title ends up in a weird spot with WWE trying to keep it relevant until it resurfaces, most likely at Money in the Bank.

I think the easiest thing to do here is let Bryan keep it. Just as Stephanie’s about to fire Brie, something can happen with Kane, or anybody really, and stop that firing from happening, unless Brie is leaving the company. If WWE was taking the title from Bryan, they would’ve done it on Raw, that’s why I think he leaves Payback as champion.

Still more to come on tonight’s pay-per-view, so stick with Daily DDT. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.