If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days and somehow didn’t see, Daniel Bryan — now former Smackdown General Manager, and suddenly current-again American goddamn Dragon — has been medically cleared to compete again. He’s already throwing beautiful snap Germans and taking pop-up powerbombs, so the news is really real, and most of us have already launched into WHAT IF HE WRESTLED THIS GUY, WHAT IF HE WRESTLED THIS GUY territory.
This bit from The Observer is hopeful as well, as it clarifies that Bryan is going to be an actual regular pro wrestler again, and not just a guy who pops in for a match or two a year like Shane McMahon or Triple H.
He is back as a regular. His schedule hasn’t been decided. The best guess is something similar to Randy Orton’s schedule, where he’d be a regular but not work the entire house show schedule, but still work many house shows and all the big shows.
The only difference between him and every other wrestler on the roster is that part of his agreement when getting WWE to send him to leading neurologists of Maroon’s choosing to get evaluated, is that he agreed, after every match, until WWE was comfortable that he was okay, he would go to the WWE doctors backstage and get Impact testing and a neuropsychological evaluation done.
Knowing that, let’s talk about what we’ve been talking about all week: possible, current WWE dream matches for Daniel Bryan. Let’s get the best and most obvious one out of the way first.
The Damn Miz
Ever since Bryan’s brutal ethering at the hands of Miz on Talking Smack, we’ve wanted to see Bryan return the feeling with a knee to the face. These two go back to day one in the company for D-Bry, and have been in each other’s lives in one form or another ever since, whether it’s the iffy pro/rookie relationship on NXT season 1, their feud over the United States Championship, their contentious period of Smackdown General Manager vs. unhappy employee, or the face-to-face confrontation at Raw 25. If Bryan wrestles just one (1) more match, it should be against Mike the Miz. Priority numero uno.
As a bonus, Miz is basically the safest guy in WWE history to work with. I mean, as long as you aren’t trying to dive onto him. We’re all for an 18-second Sheamus redux of Miz pausing after the bell to kiss his wife, then immediately turning into a running knee.
Let’s watch this again, just for fun.
Paul Heyman’s Client Brock Lesnar
On the opposite of that whole “safety” spectrum is Brock Lesnar, a guy who (1) provides a ridiculously impossible opponent for pro wrestling’s greatest underdog to try and topple, and who (2) has been on the other end of “Daniel Bryan vs.” since he came back. It’s never happened, and would be about as close as we could get to a modern equivalent of Brock vs. Eddie Guerrero at No Way Out 2004. If you think Bryan vs. Lesnar sounds absurd, go back and watch that.
Plus, we’ve seen with Seth Rollins and AJ Styles that Lesnar isn’t afraid to sell for a fast, high-flying opponent, as long as their offense is believable (Bryan’s is) and they carry some clout (he does). Plus, every single German suplex would feel like a nightmare for fans. Brock just standing in the ring with Bryan would have me on the phone with a Local Medical Facility checking to make sure they’re on hand. That’s a horrible feeling, but if Bryan can be healthy enough to compete at a top level again, leveraging that real-life drama could create something truly special.
And who doesn’t want to see a purple Brock Lesnar crawling around in a Yes Lock?
Shinsuke Nakamura
Bryan wants it to happen. Nakamura wants it to happen. Pretty much anyone with a basic amount of taste and a pair of functioning eyeballs wants it. It could be everything Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn was on the WWE main roster, and maybe even better.
When Bryan was cleared, this is the match that popped into most people’s heads. To put it another way,
The Entire 205 Live Roster
Daniel Bryan’s too big of a star to end up on 205 Live, but honestly, how cool would that be? He’s billed at 210 pounds, but if Daniel Bryan weighs more than Buddy Murphy I’ll eat my shoes. Bryan’s a buck-80 at best, especially after all that time away from the ring.
The current 205 Live roster is such a great mix of opponents Bryan had unforgettable matches with in his former life as Bryan Danielson, and up-and-coming stars he’s never faced in the ring. Once we’ve gotten rematches with Hideo Itami (yes please), The Brian Kendrick and Roderick Strong, we can get Bryan vs. Mustafa Ali (holy shit), Bryan vs. Cedric Alexander, hell, Bryan vs. Gran Metalik would probably tear the house down. And you’re a straight-up liar if you say you don’t want to see what Bryan and Drew Gualk could do right now. Gross submissions for days!
The Undisputed Era
How cool would it be to see the king of 2000s Ring of Honor step into the ring with the guys that carried the company in the 2010s? If you’re looking for wrestlers to work Bryan’s ROH style, Bryan’s WWE style or a hybrid of both, who better than Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly?
As a bonus because he’s also in the picture, PETE DUNNE in capital letters, emboldened. I’d include an entry for “everyone in the WWE UK division,” but it’s really only two guys, and I don’t want to get too close to “WRESTLE EVERYBODY.” Anyway, our next entry: everybody. Daniel Bryan should wrestle everybody.
Neville
We’re separating him from “everyone on 205 Live” because we aren’t totally sure if that’s still a thing or not, but a Daniel Bryan vs. Neville match on the main roster would be amazing. Sure, Bryan Danielson wrestled PAC quite a few times back in the day, but “PAC” and Neville are two completely different beasts. Submission wrestling, a little high flying and a lot of character. That’s where both men shine.
Also, I just really want Neville back. Come on, guys, we got DANIEL BRYAN medically cleared to wrestle. Can we just give Age Nev what he wants already and get him wrestling again?
Ring Of Honor’s Old Guard
205 Live aside, it’s great to go back and see how many of Ring of Honor’s stars in the 2000s — most of whom were either “flippy spot monkeys” or wrestlers who “don’t know how to work a big crowd” in WWE’s eyes until they went somewhere else, busted their asses and aged 10 years — have made names for themselves in WWE.
The big three, at least for prospective Bryan opponents, have to be Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Seth Rollins. The fact that Joe made it big in WWE as completely unchanged “Samoa Joe,” shorts and all, still feels like an extremely welcomed miracle. We want to see Styles wrestle everybody because he’s the best wrestler in the world, because duh. Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson in 2008 was maybe Rollins’ first truly great match, and even though previous Bryan/Rollins matches on WWE TV were good (and the six-mans were GREAT), Seth’s working on a different level right now and might be the most motivated guy on the roster. Bonus points if they bring back Jimmy Jacobs for that.
Kurt Angle
The dream match of dream matches. Kurt’s not what he used to be by any stretch of the imagination and probably only has a handful of matches left in him, so let’s hope one against Daniel Bryan makes the cut. Even in their current conditions, we’re confident Angle and Bryan could put together a technical masterpiece and make up for that say, 15-ish years where their careers criss-crossed but never actually intersected.
Daniel Bryan vs. Jason Jordan would also be low key fantastic — can we bring back Kaval for a match, by the way? — and would be an easy way to set up Bryan trading aggro knee bars with Kurt.
And while we’re on the subject of American Alpha …
Chad Gable
If we can’t do Bryan vs. Kurt Angle, we can do Bryan vs. Baby Kurt Angle. That’s Chad Gable, and there’s probably no better measuring stick to see if Daniel Bryan can still go in the ring at American Dragon levels. I mean, of course he can, but I’m going to pretend he needs to prove it by having a match with Gable.
Oh, and in case you missed it, Bryan vs. Gable would provide all that “father vs. son” drama WWE craves.
CM Punk
He’s gotta have something to do after UFC 225, doesn’t he?
