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What's the story?
Daniel Bryan was conspicuous by his absence on this week's episode of SmackDown Live. He was not a part of the show, and when Big Cass came out to challenge Daniel Bryan out to the ring, it was not Bryan, but a little version of him who came out to his music.
Tom Phillps announced that Bryan was not cleared by WWE medical staff to wrestle on SmackDown. He said that the officials were afraid Bryan might contract a bad chest infection, having suffered cuts on his chest during the 50-Man Royal Rumble Match in Saudi Arabia.
After 205 Live went off the air, however, Bryan made an appearance and wrestled in a dark match.
In case you didn't know...
At the Greatest Royal Rumble Event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Daniel Bryan had a record-setting performance in the 50-Man Royal Rumble Match. During the match, Bryan would suffer an injury to his chest from severe chops by Roderick Strong.
The chops bruised his chest, and while Bryan was happy about being in the ring and with his performance, it left many people cringing at the obvious pain it must have caused.
This did not bother Bryan and he was jubilant about setting the record for the person to last longest in a Royal Rumble, and he said seeing Roderick Strong gave him a second wind during the bout.
The heart of the matter
After 205 Live went off the air, Bryan and Shinsuke Nakamura faced each other in a match. Though it looked like Bryan had the upper hand, Shinsuke used his dastardly heelish tactics again, hitting Bryan with a low blow. This caused the match to end in disqualification, with Bryan being declared the winner.
Nakamura was leaving but came back to finish Bryan off with a Kinshasa. He missed, and it was Bryan who hit him with the Flying Knee, taking him out, before celebrating with the crowd.
You can watch clips from after the show here:
WWE had earlier announced that Bryan was not cleared to wrestle in a match, but his appearance after the show went off the air suggests that it was part of the storyline on the go-home show before Backlash.
What's next?
Daniel Bryan is set to face Big Cass at Backlash this Sunday, at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey on the 6th of May.
Author's take
Bryan appearing and actually wrestling in a match after the show suggests that WWE planned to keep him off television for kayfabe reasons related to the storyline.
