'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
WWE has been interestingly taking this Universal Championship feud and relying on its three most competent mic and ring workers to give fans an interesting story to follow.
Daniel Bryan has found himself in the middle of a storyline where he is faced by his archrival The Miz on one side, and ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt on the other. While we haven’t seen any direct links between The Miz and Wyatt yet, the company has been constantly building towards a storyline that could involve all three men collectively and give us some quality TV time.
We’ve seen Wyatt’s previous challengers Finn Balor and Seth Rollins find a darker side to themselves after facing The Fiend, and not being the same again. Similarly, we could watch Bryan lose his touch with his babyface character, and give in to the dark and demonic side of The Fiend.
This could result in Wyatt manipulating and using Bryan to hunt down The Miz for him, who could prove to be the perfect next challenger to the Universal Champion.
In this article, we will look a the five signs the company has already given that indicate that Wyatt will use Bryan to go after The Miz after their feud is over.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article belong to the writer and doesn't necessarily represent Sportskeeda's stand.
#5 The Miz was originally rumored to be The Fiend’s first challenger
After The Fiend won the Universal Championship, rumors were floating that The Miz would step up as the first challenger to The Fiend and his title.
Both Daniel Bryan and The Miz did not make the trip to Saudi Arabia, and it seemed like the creatives had a change of heart and removed Bryan from the Intercontinental Championship scene where he was already in an angle with Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura, and placed him in a feud with The Fiend.
While Bryan is in contention for the Universal Championship, The Miz has repeatedly appeared and has been mentioned in the storyline currently involving himself and The Fiend.
This could signal that The Miz may end up being Wyatt’s next challenger once The Fiend is done with Daniel Bryan, and introducing him to the current Universal Champion via the use of Bryan would make a brilliant storyline.
We could see Bryan join forces with The Fiend after losing to him again, and then gathering souls for The Fiend to sacrifice to get more powerful, with The Miz proving to be the first victim.
#4 The Miz and Daniel Bryan already have a rivalry brewing
It’s not often that you see a Superstar get into two separate rivalries at the same time and still keep both extremely relevant. Daniel Bryan has been doing that perfectly since the past month and has two great promo-cutters to help him carry the burden.
The Miz has been feuding with Bryan at the same time he has been constantly attacked by The Fiend. We’ve seen The Miz slap Bryan, get into a match with him last week that ended with The Fiend’s interference, and even give Bryan an interesting pep-talk before his Universal Championship match at Survivor Series.
With The Miz not backing down from his rivalry with Bryan even when his former NXT protege has a bigger threat to overcome suggests that the company won’t be giving up on their storyline anytime soon.
Instead, we could see a triangle being formed in the rivalry, with The Fiend taking over Bryan’s mind and using him to go after what could be his next biggest threat, The Miz.
The Miz is a former WWE Champion and could prove to be a great opponent for The Fiend, and bringing him to Wyatt's Fun House through the use of Bryan would be a logical move.
#3 The Miz’s conversation with Daniel Bryan before the Survivor Series match
The Miz’s conversation with Daniel Bryan before his big Universal Championship match with The Fiend was an interesting one. First of all, Bryan and The Miz have already been seen feuding, and it did not make much sense for a rival to show some concern for his opponents well being before a big match.
Secondly, The Miz’s words and claim that The Fiend cannot be stopped made it seem like The Miz was the only one who truly understood who The Fiend is and his powers.
This prompts one to believe that the company is already laying down a path for The Miz to follow The Fiend after he is done with Daniel Bryan.
The Miz once again spoke out this week on SmackDown and claimed that if Bryan goes after The Fiend again, he might just end up taking Bryan’s mask off rather than the other way around.
These two segments make it seem like since The Miz is trying to pull Bryan away from The Fiend, The Fiend might use Bryan later on to construct a path to The Miz’s soul.
#2 Bray Wyatt claiming he’ll reveal Daniel Bryan’s true face
This week, Daniel Bryan made his way to the ring to answer Bray Wyatt’s invitation to another match. The Planet’s Champion revealed to the WWE Universe that he felt that he changed in the middle of the match with the Universal Champion at Survivor Series, similar to how the fans had changed him.
As the fans and Bryan erupted into YES chants, Wyatt's Firefly Funhouse music interrupted the segment. Wyatt clearly stated that The Miz made a good point earlier in the night, and claimed that if Bryan matches up with The Fiend again, he will take Bryan's mask off.
This brought Wyatt back to the promise he made earlier this week that he would reveal a new face on his show. This could indicate that Wyatt will defeat Bryan and bring him under his rule once again, similar to what he did during The Wyatt Family’s era.
After The Firefly Fun House ended, Bryan was once again attacked by The Fiend who ended up pulling out Bryan’s hair and scattering them in the ring.
This indicates a possible character and appearance change for Bryan, who could then be used by Wyatt and we could see The Miz try to convince Bryan to come back to his senses, leading to an all out feud between the two men.
#1 Bray Wyatt’s promise to Daniel Bryan of a new toy
During the first Firefly Fun House of the night, Bray Wyatt welcomed back fans and asked them if they wanted to see him play with Daniel Bryan once again. After receiving a positive response from ‘his’ fans, Wyatt went on to unveil the new customized Universal Championship belt for The Fiend.
The belt, masked with the face of fear, is a good touch to the entire character, even though it isn’t very visually appealing.
Earlier in the week, Wyatt had promised to reveal a new ‘face’ this week, and fans were sure that the new face would be a Superstar joining the current Universal Champion. Instead, it seems like the new face was the new belt that Wyatt unveiled.
However, another theory could be that this is just the beginning, and Wyatt would reveal Bryan’s true face as the new face of his show. During the show, Wyatt hinted that he would also get his challenge a ‘toy’ of his own.
The new toy could be a suggestion to many things, but one of the most interesting things WWE could be signaling at is The Miz as Bryan’s new toy.
We could see Wyatt first take over Bryan’s head before moving onto The Miz through the use of the former WWE Champion, and making the two pair up in the near future to once again form a faction for himself.
A faction involving Wyatt, Bryan, and The Miz could be excellent for the brand and all three Superstars and give fans something big to look forward to.
