5 Potential Opponents to Defeat Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship

On March 20th, 2018, the announcement of Daniel Bryan being medically cleared to compete in a WWE ring was revealed. After years of waiting to make his return, Daniel Bryan's dreams had finally come true, with him finally being allowed to wrestle after some had thought he wouldn't be able to perform again.

Bryan's return was a huge moment, and it led to a tag team match at Wrestlemania 34 as he teamed up with Shane McMahon to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. However, after that, Bryan was immediately put into a lackluster rivalry with Big Cass, where despite Bryan gaining the victory in all matches, his momentum was ruined heavily.

On the November 13th, 2018 episode of Smackdown, we witnessed Bryan turn heel as he had hit AJ Styles with a low blow in a match before covering him to win the WWE Championship. It was a shocking moment for some, but the outcome was that we received a "New Daniel Bryan."

So here are 5 potential opponents that could possibly dethrone Bryan to win the WWE Championship.

#5. AJ Styles

Styles is scheduled to face Bryan at Royal Rumble for the world title

The Phenomenal One is a currently a two time WWE Champion, and he is set to face Bryan in a quest to regain his WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble 2019. We have already seen the duo face each other before many times on Smackdown, where they exchanged victories, and they also faced each other at TLC 2019 in a match where Bryan managed to gain the victory again.

With AJ Styles being the top face of Smackdown, there is the chance that we might see him win the WWE Championship for the third time. There is no doubt that Vince McMahon is high on The Phenomenal One after we witnessed Vince wanting to see "The Animal" in AJ Styles on the December 25th, 2018 edition of Smackdown.

This led to a huge moment where Styles brutally attacked McMahon, and it was a moment that Vince clearly seemed to love. This was exactly what the CEO of the WWE wanted to see, and it paves the way for a more aggressive and brutal AJ Styles to face Daniel Bryan at Royal Rumble.

However, it seems highly likely that we won't see Styles win at Rumble due to the fact that Bryan has only just recently won the title, but with Styles continuing to be booked very strongly, you can't rule out a victory for The Phenomenal One so that he can reclaim his WWE Championship at Royal Rumble 2019, because after all, Smackdown Live is the house that AJ Styles built.

#4. Jeff Hardy

Bryan vs. Hardy would be a fantastic match

At Wrestlemania 33, we saw the return of Jeff Hardy to the WWE alongside his brother Matt Hardy as The Hardy Boyz won the Raw Tag Team Championships in a Fatal Four Way Ladder Match. Ever since then Hardy has clearly had a successful return to the WWE, as he has also won the United States Championship.

On November 27th, 2018, we saw Hardy celebrate his 20th anniversary of being in the WWE which is a huge feat considering the fact that he has been in the WWE longer than most superstars. The fact that WWE was willing to celebrate this in the ring signifies the fact that they are still very high on him.

And why wouldn't they be? He still receives solid reactions, and he still sells a ton of merchandise. He is a very useful asset for the WWE, which makes him a viable option to take the WWE Championship away from Daniel Bryan in what would definitely be a dream match.

However, The Charismatic Enigma is nearing the end of his career at the age of 41 so it makes things highly unlikely that he will defeat Bryan for the title. But at the same time, AJ Styles was at the age of 40 (now 41) and yet WWE had faith in him to let him hold the WWE Championship for 371 days. A third world title win would complete Hardy's comeback, and maybe the WWE could give him a long world title reign that we didn't witness from him during his last run.

#3. Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura is a former US Champion

We have The King of Strong Style at #3 on the list. Shinsuke Nakamura has had a very decent run on the Smackdown Live roster so far, as we have seen him become the 2018 Royal Rumble winner as well as become a US Champion.

He is currently embroiled in a rivalry with Rusev which could potentially lead to another US Championship match, but it's likely that he won't win as Rusev had only just defeated him for the title.

Nakamura is currently a heel, so in order for him to be in contention to face Daniel Bryan, he would have to have a babyface turn, but that is something that could be easily done to create another dream match. Nakamura has proven that he could be successful as a face before, as seen on NXT where he held the NXT Championship twice.

We haven't seen the best of Nakamura on the main roster in terms of wrestling, but with the McMahon Family promising a chance for change maybe we will see Nakamura be allowed to compete with his strong style of wrestling, something that the WWE Universe has been yearning for ever since his debut on the main roster.

The Artist has yet to win a world title on the main roster, but he has come very close following his feud with AJ Styles, which lasted a very long time. There is no doubt that Nakamura would be a great option to take the title away from Daniel Bryan, as it could lead to a fantastic match between two of the best superstars on Smackdown today with Nakamura finally gaining the WWE Championship.

#2. Samoa Joe

Joe is a good option to take the title away from Bryan

With The Samoan Submission Machine being #2 on the list, there is no denying that he would make an exceptional option to be the one to take the WWE Championship away from Daniel Bryan in the future.

We have yet to see an official match between himself & Daniel Bryan. On the May 29th, 2018 episode of Smackdown, Samoa Joe vs. Daniel Bryan was scheduled for the card, only for Big Cass to be added into the match, which made it into a Triple Threat bout. On June 19th, 2018, we also saw a Gauntlet Match that saw Joe & Bryan face each other - but it wasn't a proper one on one match that the wrestling world has wanted to see.

Samoa Joe has yet to have a title run whilst being on the main roster, and it's clear that WWE has prevented him from facing Bryan due to the fact that they may be saving it for a much bigger occasion. Joe's run as a heel superstar has clearly run its course, so maybe a face turn would be the best way to change him up.

We have seen Samoa Joe & Daniel Bryan involved in wars before back in Ring of Honor where the two men were having the matches of their careers. But now that they're in the WWE, the WWE Universe is in need of an official Joe vs. Bryan match with the WWE Championship on the line, as this would without a shadow of a doubt be a marquee wrestling match that could steal any show.

Seeing Joe finally win a world title in the WWE would be the icing on the cake.

#1. The Miz

Miz would be the best option to become the next WWE Champion

Finally, at #1 on the list, we have none other The Miz. The Miz is currently embroiled in a tag team alongside Shane McMahon, but it doesn't seem like this tag team will last very long with the rumored Shane/Miz match at Wrestlemania 35.

The A-Lister is one of the most decorated superstars in the WWE today, as he is a former WWE Champion. He has also held multiple US, Intercontinental & Tag Team titles, and he also has the privilege of being able to say that he has been in the main event of Wrestlemania.

The Miz has so much history with Daniel Bryan, and we saw the two men involved in a heated rivalry in 2018. They exchanged victories over each other, but their rivalry in 2018 was very underwhelming as the WWE Universe was expecting something a lot more personal. We did see Brie Bella team up with Bryan to face The Miz & Maryse at Hell in a Cell 2018, but that was just about as personal as this feud got.

The back-story behind the revival of this feud was at August 23, 2016, when we saw an iconic moment on Talking Smack as The Miz lost the rails and he had pretty much cut his own version of a Pipe bomb on Daniel Bryan.

But fast forward to 2019, and the roles have now been reversed. The Miz is now currently a face, whereas Daniel Bryan is a heel. There are more stories to be told with both men having different alignments now.

This allows the opportunity for us to see a perfect rivalry, as the Talking Smack segment is the same kind of passion that we want to see from The Miz as a babyface. The storyline has the potential to change, as it began with The Miz not having faith in Daniel Bryan to succeed, with Bryan now not having faith in The Miz to be a great wrestler.

We have also yet to see a satisfying pay-off for this rivalry, due to the fact that Bryan had defeated Miz in their last match at WWE Super Show-Down in a match that only lasted 2 minutes and 25 seconds. This is a feud that needs to be rekindled so that it can end with a stipulation such as the Last Man Standing match or even a Falls Count Anywhere match

With Miz being long overdue a title reign for another world title, there wouldn't be a better option than The Awesome One to take the title away from the "New Daniel Bryan."