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Will Daniel Bryan Ever Return To The Ring? Here Are Five Guys We’d Love To See Him Face If He Does

By Aaron Sass

From the archive: published Sep 5, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.

It’s been about two weeks since WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz went off on Daniel Bryan during the SmackDown post show – Talking Smack – and because of the fact that WWE won’t allow Bryan, who is currently the SmackDown general manager, to wrestle again, they’ve decided to keep the two away from each other on television, despite the fact that a confrontation between the two was advertised prior to last week’s SmackDown.

Since his retirement back in February, Bryan has said on numerous occasions that he’d return to the ring if WWE ever allowed him to and that it’s been extremely difficult for him to sit ringside and watch his fellow WWE superstars do what he’s no longer allowed to do.

It’s probably safe to say that Daniel Bryan’s wrestling days are over, unless, of course, he decides to leave WWE after his contract expires. But, on the off chance that WWE allows him to wrestle again, there are several names that WWE fans would like to see him go one on one with, five of which are listed below.

The Miz

While this would be far from the biggest match of the five, it would make the most sense storyline wise. Of course, prior to his last concussion, Daniel Bryan’s goal was to make the Intercontinental Championship relevant again, and Miz is the current IC Champ, so Bryan’s comeback story could be centered around regaining the Championship that he never lost, while getting revenge on Miz.

Miz isn’t really known for being dangerous in the ring, which is another reason why he’d be a great opponent for Daniel Bryan.

As previously mentioned, this is the least interesting of the five matches that are on this list, but if WWE were to clear Daniel Bryan for one more match, this would probably be the one.

Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens came up to the WWE main roster after Daniel Bryan was forced to forfeit the Intercontinental Championship, and even though he promised that he’d come back and regain the IC Title, he never did.

Owens won the IC Title shortly after Bryan relinquished it, and now, KO has gone on to bigger and better things, as he won the WWE Universal Championship last Monday night.

It’s clear that WWE is positioning Kevin Owens as the top heel in the company, and if Daniel Bryan were to return to action, he’d almost certainly be the biggest babyface in the company, so a match between the two would make a ton of sense. The two men have wrestled each other elsewhere, but they’ve never locked horns in a WWE ring, so a one on one match between the two would definitely create a lot of buzz.

Brock Lesnar

In an interview with Michael Cole, Daniel Bryan said that Brock Lesnar has always been his dream opponent, and if he were to come back, Lesnar would be the guy that he’d want to get in the ring with.

Lesnar and Bryan were originally scheduled to wrestle at SummerSlam in 2014. But, Bryan ended up injuring his neck several months before the event, and John Cena ended up taking Bryan’s place. Of course, Bryan was going to get squashed in that match just like Cena did, so it wouldn’t have been a five-star classic.

“The Beast” probably wouldn’t be the safest guy for Bryan to face in a comeback match, which is why this match probably wouldn’t happen, even if Bryan does end up getting cleared at some point.

AJ Styles

AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan have faced off before, but it was just over a decade ago, and the two men have clearly improved their games since they first locked horns in the mid 2000s.

Both Styles and Bryan have been widely regarded as two of the best in-ring wrestlers in the world for the last decade, so a match between the two would be phenomenal, pardon the pun.

Styles made his WWE debut back in January, and Bryan retired just a couple of days later in early February. So, we truly did just barely miss out on this match up. But, if WWE cleared Bryan, they’d be crazy if they didn’t do this match.

Shinsuke Nakamura

Daniel Bryan has been dying to face Shinsuke Nakamura for several years, but, as soon as WWE signed the “King of Strong Style,” Bryan was forced into retirement.

It’s only a matter of time before Nakamura gets called up to WWE’s main roster, as he’s by far the most charismatic guy in the entire company. Sadly, though, we’ll probably never get the dream match between him and Daniel Bryan once he gets there.

Bryan vs. Nakamura would be an incredible match, even though the crowd probably wouldn’t know who to cheer for. If Daniel Bryan were to return to the ring for just one more match, this would be the match to make.

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