Predictions and Feuds for CM Punk and Daniel Bryan After Survivor Series

Following their surprise victory at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, the future looks unclear for Daniel Bryan and CM Punk.

Both have been banished from the WWE Championship scene—for now, at least—and have found themselves stuck in the upper midcard.

The company seems to recognize how hugely over and talented both guys are—they have been picking up wins and are booked strongly—but the idea of either man being the new “face of the company” is long gone.

Bryan, in particular, appears to have taken a significant amount of the blame from WWE over the plummeting buyrates, if you believe a recent report from PWI, via WrestleZone.

Per Monday’s Raw, the two look set to be splitting up as a team, with WWE creative sending them in drastically different directions.

Following the ending of Bryan/Punk vs. The Wyatt Family, Bray Wyatt and friends abducted an unconscious Bryan and took him off to some undisclosed location. Yes, the former WWE champion has been taken hostage.

Hopefully someone considers filing a missing person report.

So, where will this storyline go? Will Bryan be brainwashed into becoming a member of the Wyatt Family—hey, he has the beard for it—and join the dark side?

Well, hopefully not, since he still has a lot left to offer as a babyface.

There’s another option. Considering the state of WWE television these days, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising to see the 32-year-old turn up on Raw next week and act like nothing happened.

Punk, meanwhile, found himself on the receiving end of an extremely brutal beatdown from The Shield. It looks like he’s headed with some sort of clash with the trio, with the focus being placed on rising star Roman Reigns.

As Survivor Series showed, WWE is looking to turn Reigns into the next big main event attraction. And who better to get the guy over as a big deal than the talented Punk?

And if the former WWE champion is willing to lose to Reigns clean in a high-profile singles bout, that’s even better. This could be a star-making program for the up-and-comer.

So, these look to be the most likely options for Bryan and Punk’s short-term future at least.

Of course, some people will be disappointed to see “The Beard and the Best” doing anything but mixing it up in the main event scene with the likes of John Cena and Randy Orton. This is perfectly understandable.

WWE’s main event scene feels very stale these days—Orton and Cena feuding again is something better suited to 2008 than 2013—though Bryan and, to a lesser extent, Punk, helped freshen up things for a while.

But, hey, at least they’re still in the spotlight and being allowed to have great matches night in and night out. Things aren’t great for the pair, but they could be a lot worse.