WWE TLC 2018: 5 potential finishes for Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles
'The New' Daniel Bryan defends his WWE Championship for the first time against former champion AJ Styles. Claiming the WWE Championship once more has turned Bryan into an environmentalist heel who chides the fans and constantly calls them 'fickle', although his far-left views haven't really been used as the impetus as a heel in WWE.
Bryan initially captured the belt in controversial fashion when he hit Styles with a low blow that led to his win on the Smackdown before Survivor Series. He also attacked a downed Styles after winning the title.
Ever since then, and even during his match with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series, Bryan has had an more of an edge to his personality.
With the potential of two of the matches not happening in the usual fashion (Finn Balor vs. Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin), this one needs to be among the best matches of the night.
The two ring technicians face off again for the WWE Championship on Sunday at TLC, and several things could happen to determine just who walks out with the gold.
Here are five potential finishes to the match.
#5: Daniel Bryan retains in clean fashion
This seems like the least likely of the finishes, at least in my opinion. Bryan's recent heel turn suggests that some chicanery will go down, but the two wrestlers might just wrestle a clean match with a clean finish.
Styles is still the face in the feud, so he likely won't take any short cuts in order to regain his belt. Bryan will probably wrestle most of the match cleanly as well, with only the way he retains in question.
This is just the beginning of Bryan's title reign as a heel, and he's only going to get more insufferable the longer he holds the belt. He can not only help his cause if he retains his belt, but does so in clean fashion. He can say that he took everything Styles had and still beat him.
That would stick in Styles' craw and likely either push him over the edge or give him time to recoup. I'm predicting Bryan retaining his belt but winning the match cleanly doesn't seem to suit his new turn.