WWE News: Former WWE Writer Comments on Daniel Bryan's Heavyweight Title Win

WWE TLC was a historic pay-per-view for indie wrestling fans all over the country. 

CM Punk retained his WWE Championship in a great TLC match, and Daniel Bryan won the World Heavyweight Championship to put the top two titles in the WWE on two guys who do not fit the prototypical WWE look. 

As soon as Bryan won his first World title in the WWE, however, the skeptics came out in full force, unsure of whether or not the creative team will have enough confidence in Bryan to book him strongly going forward. 

Former WWE writer Seth Mates revealed his thoughts on the matter and gave us an interesting look at the history of first-time World Title winners and their subsequent title runs. 

Here’s what Mates tweeted, courtesy of SEScoops.com: 

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“To borrow a holiday metaphor, this is the time of year (between Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble) when Vince (McMahon) ‘tries on’ his new clothes or new main eventers.” 

“Foley (99), Jericho (01), Evolution (03), Edge (06), Sheamus (09), Miz (10), Bryan (11) among those elevated during this stretch of (the year). And to continue with the bad holiday metaphor, Vince has (until) Royal Rumble undercard to return them if they don’t fit just right. Also, Jeff Hardy in ’08 – almost forgot him.” 

“So don’t be surprised if Bryan loses the title at (Royal Rumble). Not a dealbreaker…just Vince’s history with change.” 

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As if I wasn’t nervous enough about Bryan’s World Heavyweight Championship reign, this has got me really worried. 

Mates makes some really good points here about how the end of the year is when you often see new guys get a shot at holding World titles, but also how they rarely hold onto them for a long time or have successful title reigns overall.

Even at other times of the year, the WWE has a really bad habit of making first time World titleholders look weak—take Alberto Del Rio or Jack Swagger for example—and it usually takes a while for those guys to get back to the main event scene. 

Someone like Swagger still hasn’t recovered, and the widespread expectation is that Del Rio’s failed WWE Championship runs have him headed back to the mid-card. 

As much as I would like to think otherwise, I can’t help but think the same fate awaits Bryan. Despite being arguably the best wrestler in the world, he doesn’t have the size or the look that WWE officials covet, and as result, he may have a short-lived run with the World Heavyweight Championship. 

I hope that isn’t the case, but as Mates points out, it very well could be.