Fantasy Booking Daniel Bryan Reclaiming The WWE Championship

At WrestleMania 30, one of the greatest underdog stories of all time reached its culmination with Daniel Bryan winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, now WWE has the great opportunity to recreate that moment. But how should they do it?

To this day, Daniel Bryan’s huge win at WrestleMania 30 is one of the greatest feel good moments in wrestling history, and the reason it became that was because of one word; investment. Meaning the audience was invested in Bryan as a character, because they could relate with him.

Any time Bryan lost a match, or seemingly wasn’t in the mix for the WWE Title, the crowd vocalized their displeasure of this, and it became so overwhelming that WWE really had no choice but to give Bryan his moment in the sun. And that’s really what makes an underdog story work. If you try to tell that sort of story, but you tell it with a character that the people are not invested in, obviously, it won’t work. So, with all of that being said, we should keep in mind what originally made the triumph of Bryan work when booking his rise to reclaim the crown.

As things currently stand, Daniel Bryan is locked in a feud with Big Cass. Coming off his big return to the ring at WrestleMania 34, it was clear that Bryan would need something big after that to keep everyone engaged and excited that Bryan is back and working a full-time schedule. So naturally, they had him feud with Big Cass. *insert sarcasm here*

So far in Bryan’s feud with Cass, we’ve seen Bryan beat Cass pretty convincingly at WWE’s last PPV, Backlash. After that, Bryan lost a Money in the Bank qualifying match to Rusev, and now has defeated Jeff Hardy for a 2nd chance to qualify for Money in the Bank, if Bryan can beat Samoa Joe on this week’s SmackDown.

Now that we’ve gotten the backstory to all of this, Let’s move forward. The prospect of having Samoa Joe go against Daniel Bryan is definitely intriguing, but it is also one that is difficult to decide a winner on at this moment. It’s very possible we’ll get some sort of interference from Cass here to cost Bryan the loss. However, what I would do here is have Bryan win to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match. Maybe instead having Cass try to cost  Bryan the win, but inadvertently helps him get the win.

Photo by WWE.com

The key components leading in to Money in the Bank are now Daniel Bryan and The Miz. This can be built up by promoting Daniel Bryan to be on Miz TV on SmackDown, with Bryan saying he’s been waiting a long time to punch Miz in the face, and now he may finally get that chance.

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However, instead of it being a traditional Miz TV segment, Miz would instead appear on the titantron via satellite from his home. He explains that he’d love to be there in person, but as he is now a father, he was needed at home this week.

Bryan obviously will see through this, as he explains that Miz is a coward and is afraid to be in the same ring as him, but at Money in the Bank, he’ll have no choice but to be in the ring with him, and Bryan will finally get his chance to punch Miz in the face

Come Money in the Bank, the way I would build this match is to keep Bryan and Miz separated for the majority of it. As soon as the bell rings, Miz rolls outside the ring, while Bryan fights as hard as he can to win the briefcase against everyone else in the match.

Miz picks his spots, but for the most part doesn’t do a lot in the match other than being outside the ring. This builds to Miz eventually trying to pick his spot when Bryan has his biggest offensive spur of the match, taking out everybody except Miz, who can then come in try to get the better of Bryan.

After getting the jump on Bryan, Miz aims to do his imitation of Bryan’s “Yes” kicks. but Bryan blocks. He gets up to his feet, while still holding the Miz’s leg. Bryan has a satisfied smile on his face. Finally, he has his chance. Bryan is just about to punch Miz, but out of nowhere, in comes Big Cass who boots Bryan in the face, and helps Miz climb the ladder and retrieve the briefcase, making Miz Mr. Money in the Bank.

In the following weeks, Bryan is furious. He wants his revenge on the Miz, but any time he tries to get it, Cass is in the way of that. Miz also throughout this does not appear on TV a lot, and instead cuts most of his promos via satellite from his home, with his wife and child by his side. Bryan is of course still seeking revenge on Miz, but with the combination of Cass being in the way and Miz not actually showing up to events very often, Bryan decides that for now, he’ll put Miz to the side, to focus on what he’s truly wanted since he came back; the WWE Championship.

Bryan, however, won’t get his shot right away, as in the midst of this, he’ll be reintroduced to the next thorn in his side; Samoa Joe. Joe has not forgotten about how Bryan beat him to take away his chance at being in the Money in the Bank ladder match, and he wants his revenge on Bryan. This will lead to Daniel Bryan and Samoa Joe having a match at SummerSlam.

Photo by WWE’s Twitter

Here is where we’ll really establish Bryan as the underdog, as part of being the underdog is having the lowest of lows, before eventually reaching the highest of highs. Bryan will lose clean to Samoa Joe in convincing fashion. Not necessarily a squash match, but Joe takes most of the offense and wins by putting Bryan in the coquina clutch, forcing Bryan to pass out.

This being a low point for Bryan, the story line is that maybe Daniel Bryan just doesn’t have what it takes anymore. He’s made it to the top before, but maybe that was just it, and that moment is gone to time. Bryan is more motivated than ever now after this loss, and wants a rematch with Joe, this one taking place at the Hell in a Cell PPV, in Hell in a Cell match. This time, Bryan takes most of the offense in an inspired performance, but Joe manages to escape with the victory.

Now we move on to Survivor Series, as in the build up to the PPV, SmackDown GM Paige announces that as an incentive for SmackDown superstars to make sure SmackDown comes out as the superior brand, any sole survivors from the men’s elimination match will be rewarded with a future WWE Championship opportunity at the next PPV, Clash of Champions.

In the Men’s elimination match, the final two remaining for SmackDown are Samoa Joe and Daniel Bryan, who are forced to put their differences aside, against two of Raw’s top stars (doesn’t really matter who). The odds though get stacked on Raw’s side, as they manage to eliminate Samoa Joe, making it two against one, with Bryan being the lone survivor for SmackDown. Bryan, after taking a beating, manages to pull of the miracle win, winning the match for SmackDown live, making him the sole survivor, and the recipient of the WWE Title match opportunity at Clash of Champions.

Credit: WWE.com

At this point, AJ Styles is still holding on to the WWE Championship, a reign that would now be over a year long. The build up to this will have AJ, while still being the face, question if Bryan still has what it takes to be WWE Champion. While Bryan may have been great once upon a time, AJ Styles is not only great, but is regarded by many as the best in the world today. While AJ respects  Bryan, he is sure he is the better competitor, and knows he can beat Bryan.

Clash of Champions rolls around, and Bryan and Styles have the only kind of match they can have; a great one. However, the match ends with what would be a very disappointing finish, as just after Bryan hits the running knee on Styles, in comes Big Cass who attacks Bryan from behind and beats him down, resulting in a DQ finish.

Styles would try to fend off Cass, but he to would be laid out at Cass’ hands. As Cass admires his work, standing over AJ Styles, this leads to the Miz running down to take advantage, cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Styles, after being in a hard fought match with Bryan, and receiving the beat down from Cass, is unable to defend himself, as his long title run meets its unfortunate Skull Crushing Finale, as Miz leaves Clash of Champions with the WWE Championship.

This goes into Royal Rumble, where the two big parts of this story line are that AJ Styles will get his rematch the WWE Championship, and Daniel Bryan will compete in the Royal Rumble match to try to earn the opportunity to win the WWE Title. The Miz is able to retain the WWE Championship against AJ Styles, thanks to some assistance from Big Cass. Bryan, similar to how he did at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, enters the Rumble early and is the iron man of the match.

As the match comes to a close, there are three men left; Bryan, Samoa Joe, and Big Cass. Cass and Joe plan to work together to eliminate Bryan, but Joe crosses Cass and throws him over the top rope to eliminate him. Joe wants this moment to himself. Joe locks Bryan in the Coquina Clutch, the move that has helped Joe conquer Bryan in the past. Bryan appears to be fading, but in a last gasp effort, he makes it back to his feet, and manages to somehow run Joe into the ropes and send him over the top to win Royal Rumble. The WrestleMania main event is set; Daniel Bryan challenging The Miz for the WWE Championship.

In the build up to this match, Miz is as arrogant as he can be. Still cutting promos from his home, letting his daughter his WWE Championship, Miz explains that Daniel Bryan will never be able to do that for his daughter, as he’ll never be WWE Champion again. Bryan has had his highs and lows since he has come back, but he says this is all or nothing. This is what he’s fought so hard to get back for. This is what he lives for.

At WrestleMania. Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz closes the show, with Bryan finally reclaiming the WWE Championship, while simultaneously getting his revenge on the Miz at the grandest stage of them all, thus concluding my fantasy booking.

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One of the most important parts of this booking was also to leave Bryan with plenty he could do after WrestleMania. Now that he is champion, you have plenty of future challengers for him with The Miz being able to get his rematch, Samoa Joe going for the title with the advantage of knowing Bryan hasn’t beaten him, and the possible rematch with AJ Styles from their match that wasn’t able to reach a convincing finish.