4 possibilities had Daniel Bryan never been cleared to wrestle by the WWE

#1 Miz would be the WWE Champion right now

If Byan would not have been cleared to wrestle by the WWE's doctor, then Vince McMahon would have probably gone with The Miz

As reported by Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observers Radio, Bryan became the WWE Champion because AJ Styles was in the middle of a contract negotiation as he wanted to reduce his workload.

So, he would have lost the WWE title before Survivor Series anyway. Since Bryan was already involved in the feud with Styles and also has the momentum with him, the management decided to go with him and also turned him heel in the process.

If Byan would not have been cleared to wrestle by the WWE's doctor, then Vince McMahon would have probably gone with The Miz, as he only seems to be the logical option. He is a great wrestler as a heel and has proved his worth as the top guy over the years.

I think WWE wanted to give the belt to a heel to continue the feud between him and Styles (a babyface).

There were other options as well like Samoa Joe, Rusev or Randy Orton. But, they have made it quite clear that they don't see either Samoa Joe or Rusev as a main eventer commodity.

Randy Orton is in the process of establishing himself as the sadistic heel and his time with the top championship is a little far away for now, and other wrestlers like Andrade Cien Almas and Shinsuke Nakamura are not yet that established among fans.

So, Miz seems like the only choice that would have made sense and is not even doing anything worthwhile at the moment.