5 signs The Miz will cost Daniel Bryan The Universal Title at Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble pay-per-view is only a few weeks away and while a lot of attention has been placed on The Rumble match itself, there's also the title pictures to think about. One title in particular is The Universal Championship, which The Fiend will defend in a matchup against Daniel Bryan.

Unfortunately for The WWE, they have already done this match at Survivor Series of last year and thus need something new to make the match interesting. While one would imagine that extra bit of spice would come from an added stipulation or even another person added to the match, WWE's best weapon might just be a well-told story.

With that being said and the pay-per-view only a short time away, here are five reasons why The Miz will cost Daniel Bryan The Universal Championship at The Royal Rumble. As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below and tell us how you think the championship match will end.

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#5 Avoids monotony

WWE needs to do everything they can to avoid monotony with The Fiend.

Believe it or not, there are only so many ways this upcoming matchup between The Fiend and Daniel Bryan can end and none of them seem very appealing. One thing WWE can do is give The Fiend another outright victory over Bryan, which would be great for him, but would hurt Bryan and be somewhat monotonous to fans.

Another possible outcome is to have Daniel Bryan win The Universal Title for the first time in his career and ruin The Fiend in the process. Of course it's very unlikely that this scenario would happen, but it helps to show what kind of corner WWE has backed themselves into over this Royal Rumble title match.

In the end, having The Miz interfere in the title match allows WWE to avoid either Superstar taking a loss, gives WWE a lot of options going forward and avoids the monotony that can rear its ugly head with The Fiend. Maybe The Miz even figures out how to take away The Fiend's powers for the first time, which would be a key moment in the ongoing saga.

#4 Showcase The Fiend's powers

Just how powerful is The Fiend?

What if The Fiend is so powerful that he has the capabilities to make The Miz interfere in his Universal Championship match and cost Daniel Bryan the win? While that statement might seem outright supernatural and ridiculous on its face, it becomes perfectly logical when considering how The Fiend changes a Superstar after an encounter.

Whether that be Finn Balor turning heel, Daniel Bryan going back to his 2010 version, or Seth Rollins becoming The Messiah of Monday Night Raw, The Fiend has changed these men for the better. Interestingly enough, however, The Miz seems to be still undergoing that change and The Fiend might be in control of it somehow.

Again, completely crazy to say, but what if The Fiend's backstage provocations of The Miz is an intentional way to make him go crazy? What if this somehow causes him to lose control over his emotions and come after The Fiend during his Universal Championship match against Daniel Bryan?

In the end, it would be a great exploration of the ongoing Fiend changing you trope and might even segue the conversation into outright mind control. Either way, it would be an interesting way to explain things and gives The Fiend new powers that could come in handy later.

#3 Set something up for Elimination chamber

What does WWE have planned for The Elimination Chamber pay per view?

Where is WWE going with all of this?

That is the question that is no doubt on The WWE Universe's mind right now and the company has a lot of options on how they can have this play out. One way would be for The Fiend to get an outright win over Daniel Bryan and then have The Miz attack the character after the match.

The problem with that, however, is the fact that it hands Bryan his second loss to The Fiend and also borders on monotony during what should be one of WWE's big four pay-per-views. That's why WWE needs to allow Bryan to get the upper hand on The Fiend throughout the match, before having The Miz come in and interfere.

Not only does this allow WWE to tell a completely different story of The Fiend, but it also gives them a chance to set up a triple Threat match for the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Maybe WWE even goes a step further and puts The Fiend in a six-man Elimination Chamber match, which opens up the storyline to even more possibilities!

In the end, storytelling is important and watching Bryan get the upper hand on The Fiend would be must-see television. It also will slowly start to get fans behind Bryan throughout the matchup, which will make the eventual ending all the more controversial.

#2 Protects Daniel Bryan

WWE needs to protect Daniel Bryan moving forward!

Daniel Bryan versus The Fiend is set to happen at The Royal Rumble later this month and while this gives Bryan another crack at The Universal Title, it also comes with a price. In fact, with WrestleMania only a short time away and Bryan needing momentum, it makes no sense for Bryan to take a loss right now.

Of course, WWE could hand Bryan a clean loss at The Royal Rumble, which will show just how dominant The Fiend is, but what would happen next? Furthermore, how would Bryan work into the overall story after that and what role would he have for this year's edition of The Show of shows?

If nothing else, a loss for Bryan at The Royal Rumble creates two problems. The first is the fact that it's a huge momentum killer for one of WWE's biggest Superstars. The second problem is that it may negatively affect The Fiend storyline and force the company to find a new Superstar for the character to face at Elimination Chamber.

With that being said, however, having The Miz run interference to get his hands on The Fiend makes absolute sense. It also gives WWE the out they so desperately need in this situation, which will save both Superstars for another fight.

#1 Allows The Fiend to avoid a loss

WWE's most important job is to protect The Fiend.

It's no secret that WWE is going to avoid The Fiend taking a loss between now and WrestleMania, but how they do it is ultimately important too. For example, just having The Fiend steamroll over Daniel Bryan at The Royal Rumble would do no good for Bryan's character, which is why the company needs another way out this time.

With that being said and The Miz now on the verge of a descent into madness, it makes sense for the company to use this in order to explain an interference during the match. At least that way, The Miz can continue to stay relevant, WWE can continue the recurring trope of The Fiend changing people and they can protect both Superstars.

Beyond all that, this outcome gives them a variety of booking options going forward and might even lead to a better matchup at Elimination Chamber. Either way, WWE needs to protect The Fiend, but doing it with an outright win seems boring. That's why an interference by The Miz makes sense and keeps the storyline going in a unique way.