Could Daniel Bryan make a return to wrestling? (WWE.com)
On Talking Smack this week, Daniel Bryan hinted that he may return to the ring.
Bryan’s comment came during a segment with The Miz, in which Miz went off on an extended rant against John Cena and Nikki Bella. During a particularly heated exchange with Daniel Bryan, The Miz mocked the SmackDown Live general manager for not being able to perform in the ring, telling him, “You want to be a wrestler but you can’t because of your head.”
What Daniel Bryan said next instantly caused fans everywhere to do a double take.
“I can’t, or they won’t let me?” Bryan said. “We’ll see in a year in a half and see what happens.”
Daniel Bryan’s contract with the WWE will end in a year and a half. When Bryan retired from wrestling in 2016, it was because the WWE would not clear him for in-ring action due to his extensive head injuries, but he has repeatedly suggested that he might leave the company and go wrestle somewhere else where he would be allowed to compete.
Although it has seemed extremely unlikely because of Daniel Bryan’s health issues, a return to the ring does seem like the natural conclusion to Bryan’s storyline with The Miz that has been playing out over the past seven months. In August 2016, The Miz appeared on Talking Smack and mocked Daniel Bryan for not being able to wrestle, telling him that he abandoned the fans when he retired. During that segment, Bryan made clear that the only reason he hasn’t returned to the ring is because the WWE won’t let him.
“If they would let me come back, I would come back,” Bryan said.
Bryan also said in an interview with Gorilla Position last month that a return to in-ring action in the WWE isn’t even completely off the table.
“The one thing about [WWE] and any form of entertainment or fighting or sport is ‘never say never,'” he said. “I keep working on the doctor stand point of it, I was like ‘ok, is there anything more I can do to get cleared?’ And right now I’ve done everything I can possibly do.”
When Daniel Bryan retired in 2016, he revealed that he had suffered at least 10 concussions during his wrestling career, and he had experienced numerous seizures as a result. He later told ABC News that his wife, Brie Bella, was a major factor in his decision to retire.