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From February 2016 to August 2017, it seemed clear that Daniel Bryan would never wrestle again in WWE. He had announced his retirement from in-ring competition, a documentary marking the end of his career was released on the WWE Network, and he was given a new role as SmackDown Live GM.
Of course, there have been subtle hints throughout that time from Bryan himself, through Talking Smack and social media, that he plans to wrestle outside of WWE when his contract expires in September 2018, but a series of events over the last couple of months have made people question if we really could see him back in a WWE ring one day.
Whether he should wrestle again full stop is another matter – he has suffered 10 concussions and four post-concussion seizures throughout his career – but Bryan has made it clear that he is determined to return to the squared circle.
In this article, we look at four recent signs that suggest it is possible now more than ever that the leader of the ‘Yes Movement’ will make a comeback for Vince McMahon’s company.
#1 The Kane segment on Raw
The biggest sign yet that Daniel Bryan will wrestle again in WWE came this past week on Raw when he received a Chokeslam from former tag partner Kane.
Whether Bryan Danielson himself was actually Chokeslammed – the room was dark! – we don’t really know, but the Daniel Bryan character definitely was. He was then strapped to a stretcher and carried away by medical staff.
WWE doesn’t usually produce segments like that with people who are not medically cleared to compete and/or, in this case, have been forced to retire. The only similar incident in recent years was when Seth Rollins threatened to do his former finisher, the Curb Stomp, on Edge, who had to retire due to neck injuries, but John Cena intervened to stop it from happening.
Just take a look at the search results for ‘Daniel Bryan return’ on Twitter to see the number of people who think last week’s segment was a hint that WWE will clear him.
#2 Kurt Angle’s return
Despite a history of neck injuries and concussions, Kurt Angle was medically cleared to compete by WWE in October and he was a last-minute replacement for Roman Reigns in the main event of the TLC pay-per-view.
The Olympic Gold medallist wanted to wrestle again in WWE ever since he came back to the company in March 2017 and his next match is scheduled to happen when Team Raw faces Team SmackDown Live at Survivor Series.
All the talk of Angle’s return led to further speculation that Bryan could soon be making a comeback – something he hasn’t been afraid to shy away from on social media.
Immediately after it was announced that Kurt would be wrestling again in WWE, Bryan simply tweeted “Interesting…”.
He followed this up two days later, shortly after Angle and The Shield won their 5-on-3 match at TLC, by saying: "There was a time when WWE wouldn't let @RealKurtAngle compete. Tonight he won a PPV main event in a TLC match #SoYourSayingTheresAChance.”
#3 The Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn promo
During an episode of Talking Smack in 2016, a war of words between The Miz and Daniel Bryan escalated to such a degree that the SmackDown Live GM walked off the set. It wasn’t entirely scripted, according to Bryan, although both guys knew where they were going to go with the segment.
Since then, there has barely been any on-screen talk from Superstars about the former World Heavyweight champion no longer being allowed to compete inside the ring.
However, during a recent segment on SmackDown Live, Sami Zayn mentioned how he grew up idolising Bryan’s skills as a wrestler but now sees him as nothing more than a “housewife” after he “broke his body” for the glory and adulation of fans.
A few minutes later, as Bryan made his way up the entrance ramp, Kevin Owens added that “walking out of an arena is the best thing you’ve got nowadays”.
Now, of course, all of this could mean nothing. A wise man once said to believe that everything you see in wrestling is a work, but it’s interesting that WWE has decided to bring up the topic again when they seemed to be steering away from it for so long.
#4 Brie wants Bryan to return
For those of you who watch Total Divas, you’ll have seen the moment when Daniel Bryan broke down in tears when he was trying to come to terms with no longer being able to wrestle again.
Bryan’s wife, Brie Bella, said at the time that he had to move on from thinking about a return and realise that his health is more important than wrestling again.
That footage was first released in November 2016, but fast-forward a year and Brie now says she is “100 percent” behind her husband making a comeback to the ring if he is medically cleared by doctors.
She told Busted Open Radio last week: “The moment they told him that he could no longer wrestle in the ring… I am not kidding you, that next day, he has done everything to figure out how he can get back in that ring.”
Asked if WWE's decision to clear Kurt Angle has left Bryan feeling that he deserves to be back in the squared circle, she simply added: “Yes.”
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