The news of Daniel Bryan’s return to WWE has been an emotional roller-coaster.
Here’s what you need to know: Daniel Bryan is the best professional wrestler in the world. He struggled for a decade to make a name for himself and defy expectations to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 30. It was one of those moments when being someone with contrarian opinions on the Internet felt right, because we were saying this could happen back when he was small packaging dudes in armories. Anyway, Bryan almost immediately got hurt and required possible career-ending neck surgery. He gave up his championship and stepped away indefinitely. A few months later we found out he had to have a SECOND neck surgery, but that turned out to be a worst-case scenario … the injury was a never issue in his elbow, not his neck, and that he could be back in time for the Royal Rumble. Then we found out Bryan would require Tommy John surgery, and the response was, “… uh, good thing he’s not a pitcher?”
It’s all very stressful and inconclusive. Yesterday, reports came out that Bryan had been advertised for WWE’s upcoming tour of Europe in November, and we all like:
But now the word is that he’s just going on the European tour and not wrestling, and we’re all like:
Via PWInsider:
As we reported earlier today, WWE is advertising Daniel Bryan’s return for the upcoming European tour in November. Apparently, Bryan will be returning during the tour, but will not be wrestling any matches.
The feeling within WWE is that the European tour needs all the star power it can get, so Bryan was booked for that reason.
Most expect that Bryan will appear on the shows in Europe doing in-ring promos or some kind of other non-physical segment.
So, who knows? This could all be Internet conjecture. Bryan could be going on the European tour because the Bella Twins will be there and need company. Maybe that’s what the best wrestler in the world has become … that weird-looking, polite guy who holds a movie star’s stuff while they take pictures on the red carpet. Or hey, it could be the other way around. Maybe Bryan will show up with a neck brace and a walker to apologize to Europe, and then BOOM, two months later he’s in the Royal Rumble.
No matter what happens, maybe we should stop yelling things and try to be a little more like this:
