What's the Payoff for Ongoing Shane McMahon-Daniel Bryan WWE SmackDown Feud?

Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan bickering about how to run the show has become a WWE SmackDown staple of late. Something continues to brew between the commissioner and general manager of the blue brand as the two authority figures' relationship worsens.

But to what end?

Often it's obvious what showdown WWE is foreshadowing. The audience could guess that Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley's struggles as a team were going to lead to one of them turning on the other last year. Samoa Joe calling out John Cena on Raw recently hinted at a clash between those two bruisers.

Things are far hazier with McMahon and Bryan as the GM isn't medically cleared to wrestle. 

There are two potential paths this story can take. One is bound to be underwhelming. The other feels highly improbable.

Bryan was forced into retirement after suffering multiple concussions throughout his career. The company hasn't budged about clearing him. A Bryan vs. McMahon showdown will have to involve other parties if that doesn't change.

The former WWE champ will have to find a proxy to fight for him when this situation boils over.

Maybe Bryan turns heel and sides with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. After all, there are no bigger players in this drama—outside of the commissioner and GM themselves—than those two scoundrels. 

Shane-O-Mac wanted to fire them; Bryan pushed back against that idea. McMahon tried to punish them for disrupting SmackDown; Bryan awarded them a two-on-one WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

But WWE has already done Owens vs. McMahon. And Zayn vs. the commish doesn't have enough electricity to it to be the apex of this narrative, especially if it's going to be at WrestleMania.

WWE is more likely to bring in other names. Perhaps Owens and Zayn take on McMahon and his brother-in-law Triple H for control of SmackDown.

Still, that's not exactly The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan caliber in terms of marquee appeal.

Honestly, anyone other than Bryan stepping up for whatever battle is ahead will be a letdown. Joe Soriano of Daily DDT wrote: "Would the WWE really set all of this up between Bryan and Shane, only to have Bryan select someone to wrestle 'in his place'? Would that be well-received at WrestleMania—the grandest stage of them all?"

Credit: WWE.com

That begs the question of whether WWE knows it will soon clear Bryan, paving the way for a comeback match against McMahon?

With as much focus as there has been on those two guys of late, that feels like the only logical climax even as hard as it is to imagine WWE shifting its stance on Bryan wrestling at this point.

This has been the central story on SmackDown for weeks. Bryan and McMahon's disagreements and tense exchanges have garnered more airtime than Tye Dillinger, Breezango and Tamina combined. Why stoke these flames for so long only to go in another direction?

Chair Shot Reality host Justin LaBar is among those skeptical that a conclusion involving Bryan stepping into the ring with McMahon is on the way: 

But that's what many will be expecting. That's the direction the story seems to be heading. And fans are going to get their hopes up about seeing the gutsy, bearded warrior strap on his boots again.

Even if it's against a 48-year-old, sometimes-wrestler like McMahon, the crowd will be jacked up about the prospect of seeing Bryan perform again. 

Whatever WWE really has cooked up isn't going to be able to compete with that. Bryan standing in Zayn and Owens' corner won't cut it. Triple H fighting alongside Shane-O-Mac in a battle of establishment and grating rebels won't satisfy. 

This angle is poised to be as anticlimactic as they come unless WWE has an unlikely trick hidden its bag.