What Now for Daniel Bryan with His WWE Career in Question?

Rough news was just reported by Daniel Bryan with his announcement of his current injury status and that he will forfeit the WWE Intercontinental Championship. What does the future hold now for Daniel Bryan and the WWE?

Daniel Bryan already had a cult following before he made his way on to the WWE roster with NXT, but over the past three or four years you could say that he has been the most popular wrestler in all of professional wrestling. With his career hitting its peak last year, it all came crashing down with his neck injury.

After months of rehab and rumored returns, fans waited on the edge of their seats for the bearded hero to return. Finally the WWE and its fans got that long-awaited return in January of this year when Bryan returned to SmackDown. He was back and looked great, almost like he hadn’t missed the last seven months to injury.

Even though he didn’t win the Royal Rumble and he didn’t get the World title shot at WrestleMania, he still delivered a great Mania moment with his Intercontinental title win. It was hoped that his run with the Intercontinental title would be his road back to the World title picture, but his body just said no….again.

Now that he is out for an unknown amount of time, the real question is what is next for Daniel Bryan and the WWE?

As I see it there are a few different options for Bryan and the WWE. The most obvious is Vince McMahon coming out to name him as a general manager to work against The Authority. This would allow the fans to still see their favorite superstar and Bryan could still be a part of the show and not get hurt while waiting to see what his wrestling career goes.

The story of the Authority vs. Bryan has never really been settled and this is one way to have him stick it back to the Authority for all they did to him by making their champion, Seth Rollins, go through the same hurdles at Bryan had to.

Bryan could also much later down the line turn heel once the Authority has gone off of television and creative feels the need to have the general manager be against the roster again. He may not get the heat that Triple H can draw only because the fans will always have a special place in their heart for him, but he does play the heel part well.

He could also do the same part with NXT and do more behind the scenes with the young soon to be stars. He is a wealth of knowledge and can be an excellent teacher for the NXT stars. With his vast experience from Japan and the Indies that he had before the WWE – he can offer a lot to the entire roster.

I can see him doing a lot of what Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels have done in their career and make sporadic appearances for the WWE to add an extra element to a particular story or match; whether it is as a referee or as the veteran speaking to the young star about how dangerous their opponent is because he faced him before.

Personally, I would love to see him back on Raw consistently, but I would rather see him healthy.

As I said before about Rey Mysterio, I am going to say again this time about Daniel Bryan.I would take a few years off and rest the body from years of travel and years of abuse that he took in the ring as an undersized wrestler.

I think he should have done that before coming back this time, but I can understand his desire for wanting to come back.

Whatever it is that Bryan decides to do with his career, you cannot take away the impact he made in such a short time with the WWE. He will go down as one of the best stories and one of the saddest ones because he wasn’t able to ever capitalize on his chances with the WWE World Title.

Next: Who should turn heel at Payback?

More from Daily DDT

Home/WWE