WWE Set To Honor Daniel Bryan At Madison Square Garden On March 25
It’s been exactly two-weeks since Daniel Bryan announced his retirement, and WWE is already planning to honor his career, as they’re planning to make the March 25 house show at Madison Square Garden “Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night.”
WWE has already done something like this at MSG with Hulk Hogan, so it’s likely that it’ll be something similar to that.
The fact that WWE is doing “Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night” just a few weeks before WrestleMania 32 suggests that they’re not planning on putting him in the WWE Hall of Fame this year, which has been rumored ever since he announced his retirement.
Putting Bryan in the WWE Hall of Fame this year didn’t seem like a bad idea following his emotional, 30-minute long retirement speech. However, it does seem a bit unfair to put him in this year, because Sting, who was the first candidate announced for this year’s Hall, deserves to have one final moment in the sun, and if Bryan were to go in, it’s likely that Sting would be upstaged.
Having Bryan headline next year’s WWE Hall of Fame would probably be a better choice. It’d be similar to what WWE did with Edge, where they waited one-year after his abrupt retirement to put him in the Hall of Fame. Granted, Edge retired after WrestleMania. But still, it’s probably a good idea to wait a year to put Bryan in.
As of this writing, WWE isn’t planning on showing the show at Madison Square Garden on the WWE Network. Right now, the only WWE house show leading up to WrestleMania that’ll be shown on the WWE Network is the March 12 show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The card for the “Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night” show isn’t really a must-see card. So far, the announced matches for the show are Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus, Big Show vs. Bray Wyatt, Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio for the United States Championship, and Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship.
There’s a slight chance that Daniel Bryan could end up having some role in the WrestleMania 32 main-event. In fact, WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall actually suggested that WWE should make Bryan the guest referee in the Roman Reigns vs. Triple H match.
Having Bryan be the special guest referee for the match isn’t the worst idea, but it probably won’t happen. Although, you shouldn’t rule out Bryan being involved in the match in some way, because WWE is going to do everything possible to convince the fans at AT&T Stadium to cheer for Roman Reigns.
As of right now, the only show that Bryan will definitely be appearing at is the aforementioned Madison Square Garden show on March 25. It’s unclear what his role will be for WWE following that event. Some have suggested that he’d make a great general manager. But, WWE isn’t exactly looking to have a babyface authority figure on the show at this moment.
It’s unclear who will show up to celebrate the career of Daniel Bryan on March 25. It’s likely that guys like William Regal, who is Bryan’s mentor, Kane, Brie Bella, and maybe even Chris Jericho and AJ Styles will be there to pay tribute to the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Vince McMahon and Triple H will probably be there as well.
We’ll probably know more about the event and who will be there as the date gets closer. But it should end up being another memorable moment for Daniel Bryan.
[Featured image via WWE]
