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The most recent episode of SmackDown saw a big twist in the ongoing storyline between Daniel Bryan and The Fiend.
As things stand, Bryan has disappeared from TV and Bray Wyatt will instead take on The Miz at TLC in a non-title match.
Dave Meltzer was the first to report about The Miz potentially replacing Bryan at TLC and provided an update on the angle in the latest Wrestling Observer Radio.
It was revealed that Bryan himself was pushing for his rematch against The Fiend to be delayed. Bryan reportedly oversees his storylines and has a big say in how his angles are booked on TV.
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It's likely the former WWE Champion requested Vince McMahon and his creative team to hold off on the rematch. There could be some truth in Bryan having some degree of creative freedom as he was the only active talent that was spotted at a recent production meeting.
Meltzer said the following regarding Bryan being replaced by The Miz:
The opening segment was supposed to be Miz TV with Daniel Bryan but Daniel Bryan has now disappeared and you know the idea is when he got all his hair pulled off, you know, it’s supposed to be a mystery now on what happens. So he’s out of the PPV.
Originally it was going to be Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan, and Daniel Bryan himself was actually pushing to delay it, you know he didn’t want to as he thought this PPV would be too soon. And I guess he is pretty hands-on with his story, which, if I was him, I would be too because I won’t want these people messing with my stories.
The segment that involved The Fiend taking Bryan down underneath the ring and ripping his hair off was expected to reintroduce a different version of Bryan to the WWE Universe. The 2012 Daniel Bryan, maybe?
However, WWE decided to shift the focus onto The Miz's role in the storyline and announced that the A-Lister will take on Bray Wyatt in a non-title match at TLC on December 15th.
The idea behind the move is to prolong the storyline and create some sort of mystery surrounding Bryan's future.
All said and done, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the weeks to come.
