WWE fans have been enjoying SmackDown without Daniel Bryan for some time now and, if his banishment from the brand following his loss to Roman Reigns holds, they may have to do so for some time. Of course, fans have been worried about the wrestler's status ever since Bryan hinted his contract was reportedly close to expiring, and they were surprised by his absences from Monday Night Raw or other brands. Many are questioning whether the wrestler will return soon, and now we may have an answer.
The latest on Daniel Bryan's status with the WWE came from Wrestling Observer Live, in which Bryan Alvarez gave some information that may discourage those who thought Bryan would be back immediately. Read up on what's going on below and why some may not feel too confident about Bryan returning anytime soon:
There’s some WWE projects being done… it might be the video game because when WWE started releasing all of those people, I mean one of the things that people don’t think about is when they do this with no warning, that the folks that do stuff like the video game, all of a sudden they have to scramble to take people out of the video game because WWE doesn’t like having people in the video game where they are paying royalties to somebody that is no longer with them anymore. I’m not sure if it’s the video game or what it is, but one of these projects that involves obviously the wrestlers in WWE, they were alerted today that this person, this person, this person, this person, this person no longer with WWE, and one of the people they mentioned was Daniel Bryan. Realistically, he’s not with the company. That’s true, but that is an indication that at this point, take him out of whatever project this is because he’s not with this company.
If Daniel Bryan is being removed from video games or other WWE-related projects, that could be a sign that the wrestler is truly out of the organization for the time being. After all, if the WWE expected Bryan back in the immediate future, then it would make sense to have him implemented in whatever project being developed, especially a video game. Of course, it was mentioned not long after this that if Bryan were to return before that project was completed, the WWE would simply request he be re-included.
Perhaps the main takeaway here is that Daniel Bryan and the WWE seemingly haven't worked out the details of his new contract, provided the information reported is accurate. That's not to say that one won't happen, but this situation has certainly been a dose of reality for WWE fans who may have thought Bryan would merely jump onto Monday Night Raw following his loss to Roman Reigns.
The WWE has gone through quite a shakeup as of late, with several roster cuts -- including stars that some may have assumed were irreplaceable. With reported reasons for dismissals tied to budget constraints, Daniel Bryan would be another high-profile WWE star that could be dropped from the roster to help alleviate the company's pocketbook. Of course, the flip side is that it would be another high-profile wrestler that could possibly appear in AEW, so we'll just have to wait and see what the WWE decides to do.
Monday Night Raw airs on USA Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and SmackDown airs at the same time Fridays on Fox. For more on WWE, get pumped for the upcoming Money In The Bank pay-per-view by re-living some of the greatest moments of the past.
