Daniel Bryan's contract with WWE is drawing to a close, and if the company continues to deny him the ability to wrestle for them again, he will leave the promotion and continue his in-ring career elsewhere.
Bryan has a history of concussion-related injuries that have caused him scary symptoms such as loss of feeling in his arms, loss of grip, and the worst of them all - seizures. For his safety, WWE has seemingly eliminated him from ever competing inside their ring again.
He currently maintains an on-screen character as the General Manager of SmackDown Live, working closely with Commissioner Shane McMahon.
The pair have bumped heads for the past several months as Bryan has been siding with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in their feud with McMahon. With WrestleMania right around the corner, WWE fans would love to hear that Bryan is competing in a match.
Unfortunately that isn't the case as of this writing as WWE doctors seem to be sticking to their guns and forbidding him from competing again.
Bryan will have to wait until his contract with the company expires and go compete for another promotion like Ring Of Honor (ROH) or New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).
In the latest installment of PWInsider Elite Audio, Mike Johnson discussed Bryan's status with the WWE. He revealed that the expiration date on Bryan's contract, from what he has heard, is on September 23rd.
This means that Bryan will still be under contract during Cody Rhodes' "All In" event in Chicago, and will not be able to appear (quotes via Ringside News):
"Obviously the hope at one point was Daniel Bryan but given the date that Daniel Bryan's current deal is scheduled to end in September, I believe - September 23rd was the date I had heard.
"If they were going to try to draw based on the idea of having Daniel Bryan there it would just make sense that they would wait until he is available.
"Maybe that's a sign that they know Daniel Bryan isn't going to be there."
It should be noted that in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated Bryan himself confirmed if he doesn't compete at WrestleMania then there's a strong chance he returns to wrestle on the indy circuit after his WWE deal expires:
“I assume that if I don’t wrestle by WrestleMania, I probably won’t be wrestling with WWE at all,” said Bryan. “That’s my assumption.”
“It’s not a black and white answer,” said Bryan. “There are a lot of issues with me getting cleared by WWE.
"They have a very strict protocol, which is a good thing, but the timeline of all that happening was not the best for me. It’s an interesting situation that will develop.”
What are your thoughts on Bryan likely signing with another company after his WWE deal expires so he can wrestle again? What do you think are the chances WWE allows Bryan to wrestle for them again? Could a major surprise be coming at WrestleMania in which Bryan is allowed to compete again? Have YOUR say in the comments section below, and the fourth episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here!
Check it out via this link: https://soundcloud.com/user-818579649/gms-wwe-podcast-money-in-the-bank-fallout
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