6 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Backlash 2016

2. Miz Vs. Daniel Bryan

the miz
WWE.com

Go ahead and admit that you would love to see Daniel Bryan come out of retirement to beat the hell out of the Miz. Go on, it’s OK to admit it.

Ever since Miz blew up at Bryan on Talking Smack several weeks ago, the two have butted heads numerous times, with the latest being moments before Miz’s Intercontinental Championship title defense. Miz said he wanted to renegotiate his contract for more money and demanded more respect. He then got in the SmackDown GM’s face and let him have it, egging him on while knowing that Daniel couldn’t physically respond. The result was a seething Bryan left shaking with rage.

During his match against Dolph Ziggler, Miz started aping Bryan’s moves, going for an inverted surfboard and then hitting a series of running corner dropkicks, followed up by a sarcastic “Yes!” chant. It was more than enough to piss off the fans and stoke the flames.

Now, if this is leading to Bryan getting back in the ring eventually (even for a one night only match), then it’s all great stuff. If it’s a matter of Bryan finding a new wrestler from NXT to sign to be his proxy and take the IC title off Miz, then that could be a great way to introduce a new competitor. But if its leads nowhere, then this is just toying with fans’ emotions.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.