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What's the story?
After it was revealed yesterday that Daniel Bryan has another six months left on his current contract, it has been confirmed today that there is NOT a non-compete clause in his current contract - meaning Bryan could wrestle as soon as his WWE contract expires if booked elsewhere.
In case you didn't know...
Bryan was forced to retire from in-ring competition on WWE Raw back in February 2016 after being medically disqualified by WWE, but has remained as an on-air talent as General Manager of SmackDown Live.
While his current role is a non-physical role, there's been a lot of speculation that Bryan would return to the ring over the past year due to on-screen tension with The Miz and more recently with Shane McMahon - but neither has come to fruition.
Bryan had previously said he hoped to wrestle at this year's WrestleMania but WWE have reiterated that he won't be cleared to wrestle.
Bryan has also previously said on numerous occasions that he will wrestle again, even if it isn't for WWE.
The heart of the matter
Bryan's contract has been the topic of a lot of speculation for the past year, with the date the former WWE Champion's contract expires being revealed as September 23rd.
Most WWE talents have a non-compete clause in their contract meaning they can't appear in any form for another wrestling promotion, usually for 90 days, after being released from their0 WWE contract.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter revealed today that this is not the case for Bryan, meaning he CAN compete elsewhere immediately if he were to leave WWE after his contract expires.
Bryan's fate may soon be apparent. The former WWE Intercontinental Champion said last year in an interview with Sports Illustrated that we'll know his future by WrestleMania.
“I assume that if I don’t wrestle by WrestleMania, I probably won’t be wrestling with WWE at all, that’s my assumption.”
What's next?
We haven't actually seen Daniel Bryan for a few weeks, but Shane O'Mac announced this week on SmackDown Live that the General Manager will return to the brand next week.
With WrestleMania less then four weeks away, I guess all will be revealed soon.
Author's take
This is a tough one. I'd love to see Bryan back in a wrestling ring, but I also feel like if it was safe for him to return, WWE would have him in a ring straight away.
Bryan returning to the ring would draw huge money, and he's spoken openly of his doctors clearing him, but WWE doctors refusing to. I just hope that if he does return to the ring, it's either in WWE, or he proves WWE's doctors wrong.
