The REAL Reason Daniel Bryan Just Won The WWE Title
Back in the autumn of 2017, WWE had waited weeks to see if Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns were going to be able make the Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view for the two most-pushed matches on the show. 'The Eater Of Worlds' had morphed into corpse bride alter-ego Sister Abigail for a match against a pumpkin-faced Finn Bálor. Meanwhile, The Shield were set to reunite against about 14 of Raw's finest - it took that many to go measure for measure with the 'Hounds Of Justice'.
It had already passed the eleventh hour when the company admitted defeat against the mumps. Reigns and Wyatt were OUT as of the Friday night before Sunday's show. In vintage Vince McMahon over-delivery, he compensated for the loss of his main event and biggest midcard match by enhancing both. Kurt Angle made his WWE return in a Shield flack jacket, whilst AJ Styles was airlifted from a SmackDown Live tour to work an ex-Bullet Club leaders dream match against 'The Demon'.
The late-in-the-day uniqueness of both ensured TLC was a roaring success, and McMahon followed up the shock-and-awe around the show by approaching Survivor Series the same way. Silly "#UnderSeige" angles did at least capture the short-termism so prevalent at the time, and Styles was rewarded for his show-saving loss to Finn with a moment even more heroic. Dethroning Jinder Mahal at a Manchester television taping just two weeks before 'The Modern Day Maharaja' prepared to enter the most one-sided pay-per-view match since Hornswoggle Vs The Great Khali, AJ liberated the company's richest prize and rocket-strapped Survivor Series at the same time.
His match against Brock Lesnar was spectacular, too. Definitely good enough for a sequel this year. But not good enough to fill a void suddenly left by 'The Man'.
CONT'D...