8 Early Predictions For WWE Backlash 2016

We’ll soon find-out whether The Miz’s blazing “Talking Smack” rant was a shoot or a work, but regardless, it might be the most convincing he’s ever sounded on a microphone. Miz has always been a good talker, but he’s never spat words out with such fire and conviction. In drawing-in some real-life frustrations on both his place in the pecking order and the way Daniel Bryan’s career ended, Miz set the wrestling world aflame, and immediately became WWE’s biggest talking point.

Where this is heading likely depends on how scripted it was, but assuming WWE run with the angle (and they’d be insane not to), Bryan should be out for revenge. He was verbally eviscerated by his Intercontinental Champion, and so badly humiliated that he was compelled to walk off-set while Miz was still screaming at him. Bryan was left red-faced, and if he doesn’t respond, he looks like a weakling.

There’s one problem: Bryan can’t do it himself. He’ll never be medically cleared to perform in WWE again, so there’s no chance of seeing the two step into the ring together, but he can lean heavily on a few old contacts. Instead, Bryan can run Miz against a murderer’s row of title contenders, and who better than Samoa Joe?

Joe’s a heel at the moment, but it would take very little effort to turn him face against the universally-loathed Miz. He’s a fierce, brutish competitor whose time in NXT is all but over, and most importantly, he and Bryan are well-acquainted from their time in Ring of Honor. Could he capture the Intercontinental Title on his first WWE PPV match? Absolutely.