Daniel Bryan Wins WWE Title On Last Night's SmackDown

Bryan will now face Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series.

by Benjamin Richardson
Daniel Bryan WWE Champion
WWE

It's the ever of Survivor Series, and we have a new WWE Champion. On last night's episode of SmackDown, Daniel Bryan shocked AJ Styles to steal his title, ending the Phenomenal One's 371 day reign.

An inadvertent ref bump from Styles allowed Bryan to catch him off guard with a low blow, before landing a running knee to capture the belt. After the contest, he laid down a beating on the deposed champion, signalling a heel turn in the process.

According to Dave Meltzer, speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan pushed for the turn himself to salvage his botched babyface return.

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Bryan will now face Brock Lesnar in a (non-title) Champion vs. Champion match, which is absolutely certain to not to be a terrible idea for a man with a history of concussions.

The shock title change has inspired déjà vu, being scarily reminiscent of Jinder Mahal suddenly losing his WWE Title to AJ Styles this time last year for the sake of creative embellishment. Styles had held onto his strap since claiming it in Manchester last October, eventually enjoying the joint eighth longest WWE Title reign, matching 'Macho Man' Randy Savage.

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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.