Daniel Bryan is expected to make an appearance on tonight’s episode of Raw, but so far, it’s yet to be confirmed just exactly what he’s going to be doing.
Naturally, fans are curious and the speculation has begun, particularly with him trimming his beard and getting a haircut. Most of the time, people don’t alter their look unless they’re looking for some kind of change in their life. Sometimes, that could be a positive thing such as a job promotion or weight loss, while many other times, it’s considered a way to cope with stress. If you change something that you have control over such as the way you look, it can give you a false sense of security that you have control over other aspects of your life.
Keeping this all in mind, what are the best and the worst possible scenarios for what will happen with Daniel Bryan and in the end, what is the most likely thing to happen?
Worst Case Scenario: Retirement
Fans should be nervous. Bryan has been out of action for so long and it doesn’t seem as though WWE’s willing to sign off on having him get back in the ring. There’s a very good chance that may never happen and a lot of people are just deluding themselves.
We all wish him the best and we all want to see him back in action, but none of us wanted Edge to retire either, and there came a time where he had to hang it up. Bryan’s absence from television and sudden resurgence in Seattle of all places could be an indicator that he’s announcing his retirement in front of a city where he’s considered “the local boy” and would get an even bigger reaction than virtually anywhere else—not that he needs the help.
As silly as it might sound at first, cutting his hair could be the telltale sign that Bryan has accepted he will no longer wrestle again, so he trimmed things up because he doesn’t need that look anymore, symbolically cutting his ties to the company just as much as he cut his hair. That sounds super poetic to a cheesy degree, but look at how Chris Jericho cut his hair after he took a leave of absence, Edge now sports short hair after his retirement, and Triple H only adopted his current look after he stopped being a regular competitor on the roster.
WWE would never announce ahead of time that he is admitting to his retirement, but would rather say something like “Daniel Bryan will address the WWE Universe.” If anything like that is posted on WWE.com, start biting your nails and readying yourself emotionally for the inevitable retirement speech.
Best Case Scenario: Return
It’s no secret that WWE is hurting right now. Injuries are happening at an alarming rate with people falling left and right. The longer the list goes of people unable to perform, the more likely it becomes that WWE will bend to the pressure and take a risk on Daniel Bryan getting back into the ring.
If it were a bunch of midcarders being injured, that would be one thing, but we’re at the worst time of the year for this to happen. WrestleMania is supposed to be stacked with major players to the point where we all get anxious as to which important names are going to be shafted because there’s just not enough time on the card for everyone to shine. This year, though, it’s quite thin in comparison to what it could have been a few months ago. WWE may feel the need to put Daniel Bryan in there to help offset those who aren’t ready to come back.
Since this is the best possible scenario, there’s still technically time to set up a match for him at Fastlane if he were to announce that he’s ready to lock up. WWE would probably put him with someone reliable and safe in the ring who he could defeat so he looks strong heading into WrestleMania. Even if he didn’t wrestle at Fastlane, he could call out someone that he wants to face at WrestleMania and start building toward their match already.
Hell, for that matter, if WWE feels the ratings need a significant boost, he may even kickoff the show with a promo before being scheduled for a match in the main event of the night, giving fans roughly 2 hours of anticipation before watching him wrestle for the first time in months.
What is going to happen?
The pessimist in me says retirement is looming, and even the optimist in me doesn’t think he’ll be getting back into the ring—or, at the very least, he won’t be announcing that on this episode of Raw.
Instead, the safe bet is to just go with the blandest, most underwhelming option for a lot of people out there: he’s going to be The Miz’s guest on MizTV.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s a 99% guarantee. It’s simple, easy, requires no physical altercation on Bryan’s behalf (at least, very minimal with him putting The Miz in a Yes Lock, which wouldn’t be dangerous for him like taking a bump) and most importantly, it’s been hinted at. The Miz had AJ Styles on MizTV and brought up Daniel Bryan in the process, so if WWE’s history has taught us anything, it’s that the creative team will jump on any chance to stretch something out.
This will be a 30 minute segment filled with a lot of spots where the fans chant so much that Bryan chuckles and lets them do their thing. The Miz will talk himself up, insult Bryan and Styles, be offended at whatever those two have to say in retort to him, and it’ll all end with Styles standing tall with Bryan giving him an endorsement and The Miz laying down on the mat or running off.
Don’t get your hopes up for anything bigger than that, as you’ll just be disappointed. However, if I were to play devil’s advocate, I would just throw out there that it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that this feud has been orchestrated to set up a match between AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania. If the reports are true that The Undertaker vs. Braun Strowman match is a no-go, there aren’t many other options for The Deadman than Kevin Owens, who was rumored to be the selected opponent for Styles. Undertaker vs. Owens and Styles vs. Bryan sells much, much better than Undertaker vs. Strowman and Styles vs. Owens, as Strowman’s name doesn’t carry a lot of weight yet. Again, this is just a thought to mull over, not something to get too excited about.
We still have some hours before this takes place, so until something is confirmed, feel free to throw your suggestions out there. Is Bryan going to retire? Does he announce his comeback? Is this just so he can film another 5 Hour Energy commercial?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
UPDATE: Well, there goes that guarantee about MizTV, right? Sad to see that the worst case scenario is what is going to happen.
