WWE Rumors: Daniel Bryan missed this week's SmackDown Live despite being advertised

What's the story?

Recently, there have been several reports that Daniel Bryan is reportedly dealing with an injury following his match with Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania 35. Last night, Bryan was scheduled for a dark match against Randy Orton, but it's been reported that the former WWE Champion wasn't even in the building.

In case you didn't know...

Daniel Bryan was forced into early retirement due to repeated concussion injuries throughout his career. Despite several reports to the contrary, Bryan made his triumphant return to the ring in 2018 after finally being cleared by WWE to compete again.

Since his return, Bryan has been a mainstay on SmackDown Live, remaining healthy and even winning the WWE Championship, right up until WrestleMania 35. Wrestlinginc.com recently reported that Bryan was pulled from this week's WWE Live event in Madison, Wisconsin and Rochester, Minnesota without any explanation.

The heart of the matter

It has today been reported that, despite being advertised for last night's SmackDown Live, apparently to compete against Randy Orton in a dark match, Daniel Bryan was not backstage, according to PW Insider.

Daniel Bryan has not been at any WWE event since WrestleMania 35 where he was reportedly injured in his WWE Championship match against Kofi Kingston.

What's next?

Well, who knows? Thus far, Daniel Bryan's reported injuries so far have gone unconfirmed as far as both he and WWE are concerned.

While this is the case, everything else is speculation - but it's pretty telling that Bryan has missed almost a full month of WWE events for a mystery reason.

If Daniel Bryan is indeed sidelined, we wish him all the best in his recovery, and hope to see the former WWE Champion back on television and in the ring very soon.