Daniel Bryan says he wants to wrestle for WWE and other companies

As his full-time WWE career appears to be winding down, it’s clear that Daniel Bryan has been paying attention to the wrestling world outside of WWE.

With so many wrestling promotions outside of Vince McMahon’s bubble opting to share talent for shows, it makes sense for wrestlers under the WWE umbrella to wonder what life would be like outside of the sports entertainment confines.

As someone who already has a pretty extensive dream match list, Bryan apparently would love to have the best of both worlds.

Daniel Bryan says he wants to wrestle for WWE and other wrestling promotions

Speaking at a meet-and-greet prior to WrestleMania 37, Bryan had this to say about his contract status and what he hopes to do when it expires, particularly as it pertains to where he wrestles (h/t to Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert for the transcription):

“My contract is up soon. We need to figure out what’s a good balance between home life and wrestling. I never want to stop wrestling, I love it, it’s just figuring that out,” he said.

“It’d be interesting if I could wrestle in different companies and WWE. That’s something I’m trying to weasel my way into right now. [laughs]”

Prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bryan was a regular fixture on WWE television as part of the SmackDown roster, feuding with “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt over the Universal Championship and Sami Zayn over the Intercontinental Championship, with a brief partnership with Drew Gulak sandwiched in between.

Since then, Bryan has oscillated between spending time with his family and his stints at the WWE Performance Center (and later the WWE Thunderdome), mainly due to COVID precautions. Most recently, Bryan main evented WrestleMania 37, where he and 2021 Men’s Royal Rumble winner Edge challenged Roman Reigns for the Universal Title in a triple threat match. Reigns retained his title by stacking Bryan and Edge on top of one another and pinning both men. Bryan hasn’t appeared on WWE television since.