WWE News: Original Plans for Daniel Bryan's Money in the Bank Cash-in Revealed

WWE TLC was an historic pay-per-view. 

Not only did CM Punk retain the WWE Championship and Zack Ryder win the United States title, but Daniel Bryan shocked the world by cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. 

Bryan’s big victory was surprising for two reasons: Many people thought that Bryan would never win a World title in the WWE, and almost no one expected him to cash in at TLC because he vowed to wait until WrestleMania 28 to do so. 

Obviously, plans changed. 

From the Wresting Observer Newsletter (via WrestleNewz.com): 

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Before Mark Henry got injured and Daniel Bryan won the World Heavyweight Title at TLC, the plan had always been for him to win eventually. At first they were going to put the belt on him at WrestleMania 28 but some time over the past few months he was set to win it at Elimination Chamber. 

Officials chose Bryan to end up with the title after TLC over Big Show because they felt it wouldn’t be much of a big deal if Show kept the title. 

"

After initially thinking that Bryan wouldn’t get much of a run with the World Heavyweight title, I gotta say that this report is actually a bit refreshing. 

Sure, it doesn’t guarantee that Bryan will have a successful, lengthy title reign, but the fact that—prior to Mark Henry’s injury—there were plans in place for him to be holding or competing for the belt at WrestleMania speaks volumes to me. 

I honestly thought that Bryan could either be the first MITB winner to cash in and lose or would end up having a two-day title reign like Christian did earlier this year. Yet, it appears that WWE officials had enough faith in Bryan to consider giving him the title at the biggest pay-per-view of the year. 

So, at least to me, that might be a sign that Bryan may not have an incredibly short title run after all. While he likely won’t hold the belt as long as CM Punk will hold the WWE title, Bryan could very well keep it until WrestleMania. 

I’d love to see that because Bryan will tear the house down at that pay-per-view regardless of his opponent.