Daniel Bryan Says He’s “Working On” Returning to the Ring

In an interview yesterday with Sports Illustrated, Daniel Bryan was asked about a potential return to the ring:

“I’m working on it,” said Bryan. “Wrestling is more of a creative outlet, and especially for somebody like me, I view it as my creative outlet. Not all WWE superstars and not all wrestlers view it that way, but that’s how I view it and that’s one of the ways my mind works creatively.”

It’s been no secret that Bryan wants to wrestle again and would consider leaving WWE to wrestle elsewhere once his contract expires towards the end of 2018.

In an interview last month with Inside the Ropes, Bryan had this to say:

Bryan: “That all depends on how I feel my health is. If we feel like my health is good, I love wrestling, I’m gonna go wrestle. But if we think at that point that it’s not good, then… we’ll see what happens.”

Interviewer: So maybe you would come to WWE at that point, if you were in good health, and say “I wanna wrestle. It’s your call. I might go wrestle somewhere else.”

Bryan: “Yeah. I understand why they won’t let me wrestle. It’s a liability thing. It’s also they’re trying to protect me and that sort of thing. But there’s good reason to believe that I should be able to wrestle so we’ll see in a year and a half what happens.”

And here is a more detailed report about a potential return that we posted back in March:

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Daniel Bryan’s WWE contract expires in 18 months and as of now, he senses that Daniel Bryan badly wants to wrestle again and that he will leave WWE and wrestle elsewhere – possibly in ROH, New Japan or CMLL.

He has a history of concussions and a brain lesion that apparently had been causing him seizures, but previously claimed before his retirement that several doctors had cleared him to wrestle again, but WWE’s doctors would not. Meltzer also says that Bryan was rushed into his retirement speech by Vince McMahon and that the retirement could have been premature. Bryan would likely undergo full testing again in 2018 when his contract expires and likely is not yet 100% sure if he will even be able to wrestle again as of now.

There are also a lot of other factors that could change his mind, such as the upcoming birth of his daughter. However, as a free agent, he would be able to have a lot of control over his own schedule and wrestle only as much as he wants.

According to Meltzer, he has also mentally developed a new ring style that he believes will allow him to have interesting matches with a lower risk. Apparently one of his “bucket list goals” is to work in CMLL in Mexico and do a “hair vs. mask” match on one of their anniversary shows.