What if Daniel Bryan left WWE in 2018 and instead signed with AEW?

We almost lived in a wrestling world where Daniel Bryan signed with AEW, but one career-changing decision kept the multi-time world champ in WWE.

WWE is clearly in “hoarding” mode at the moment in that they are locking up as much talent as possible and not granting anyone their releases to prevent them from leaving for All Elite Wrestling or other organizations.

Of course, the company can’t keep names such as The Revival, Luke Harper and Sin Cara under contract forever, and when they are free to sign wherever they wish, it will be interesting to see where they wind up.

Chris Jericho had been a free agent for nearly two years before deciding to ink a deal with AEW at the onset of 2019. Furthermore, Dean Ambrose’s (now Jon Moxley’s) WWE contract couldn’t have expired at a better time, as he signed with AEW and debuted at Double or Nothing within a month of his departure.

They’ve proven to be the biggest blockbuster signings for AEW since its start, but one can only imagine that Daniel Bryan would have received similar star treatment had he left WWE last year.

Soon after he was forced to retire from the ring in Feb. 2016 due to concussions, Bryan revealed in interviews that in addition to doing everything imaginable to get cleared by doctors, he also contemplated quitting the company all together so he could compete elsewhere.

Of course, WWE never ended up letting him go, even though they didn’t have any viable competition at the time. Instead, he was booked to be new General Manager of SmackDown Live and served as a color commentator for the Cruiserweight Classic.

In the two years that followed, Bryan teased lacing up the boots again when his WWE contract would expire, even going so far as to challenge Cody to a match in Ring of Honor in fall of 2018. Although WWE wasn’t going to let him wrestle, he was determined to return to the ring one way or the other.

The powers that be must have realized Bryan had one foot out the door and that he had no intention of sticking around for an authority figure role. That led to them going through the process again of attempting to getting him medically cleared, and once he was, it was a monumental moment.

Bryan wrestled his first match in nearly three years at WrestleMania 34, where he teamed with Shane McMahon to beat the duo of Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon. By this point, All In had already been announced for Chicago, and before Bryan returned to active competition, there was plenty of speculation that he’d be a part of the event.

Rumors continued to run rampant that he was still considering exiting the promotion, but after being given the green light to wrestle again, there was no reason for him to. Ultimately, the man who headlined WrestleMania 30 ultimately re-signed with WWE but tweeted out his support for Cody, The Young Bucks and the rest of the independent scene on the night of All In, anyway.

In retrospect, it’s incredibly exciting to entertain the idea of Bryan signing with AEW had he left as he originally planned. It’s safe to say he made the right choice by sticking with WWE considering he went on to become WWE champion again and have one of the best heel runs in recent years, but what if WWE things turned out a bit differently than they did?

Bryan undoubtedly would have spent the remainder of 2018 ripping it up on the independent circuit and battling the best from all over around. His comeback tour could have consisted of him working matches in companies such as Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and possibly even IMPACT.

Of course, all roads would have led to him joining All Elite Wrestling upon its launch and being one of their featured faces. In fact, there’s a very good chance he and Kenny Omega would have been the main event of the promotion’s premiere pay-per-view, Double or Nothing.

Jericho and Moxley would have made the move to AEW regardless, but Bryan could have been their biggest star from the get-go. Although Jericho is doing amazing work right now as AEW’s inaugural world champion, Bryan would have been an even better choice for the role seeing as how he’s still in his athletic prime.

From rekindling his rivalries with Moxley, Jericho and Cody to facing off with the likes of Omega, Pentagon Jr. and Pac, the possibilities would have been endless for the former American Dragon in AEW. He would have bolstered their roster even more and given them another notable name to build around.

He will remain with WWE for the foreseeable future, but there are many more unprecedented matchups for him there as well. Lest we forget, he has yet to tangle with Shinsuke Nakamura one-on-one, and full-fledged feuds with Seth Rollins and Samoa Joe would be magical.

Bryan has called WWE home for so long that it’s difficult to imagine him being anywhere else, including AEW, but it is fun to fantasy book what could have been with Bryan in an alternate universe.