Current SmackDown General Manager and former WWE champion Daniel Bryan is retired. But he makes sure everyone knows he’s not happily retired.
He regularly offers quotes in interviews about how much of a struggle it’s been for him to watch from the proverbial sidelines since being forced to hang up his boots in February 2016 after a series of concerning medical tests, and peppers the worked-shoot Talking Smack with hints the only thing stopping him from a comeback is his WWE contract.
So our boy D-Bry knows that, in a week where he’s already told a major media outlet he’s “working on” returning to the ring and rumors circulated he may have received some positive test results in the past couple months, turning a congratulatory Tweet to new Ring of Honor World champ Cody (Rhodes) into title challenge will get tongues wagging.
He even gave us the (possible) last day of his WWE contract*!
Congratulations! Being @ringofhonor champ for 462 days transformed me as a wrestler and was one of the best times in my career. Enjoy it! https://t.co/alSLGCeNcX
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) June 25, 2017
Side note, if you hold the @ringofhonor title 462 days I may have to come after you, which would be 9/28/18. Be forewarned! #FinalCountdown https://t.co/alSLGCeNcX
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) June 25, 2017
Unless, of course, he’s just working us...
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) June 25, 2017
Oh, you.
It’s gonna be a long next 15 months for all of us, isn’t it?
* As folks have pointed out, the date he gives is when Cody’s ROH title reign would match his own, not a specific contract end point. (What can I say? I got excited) It does line-up with Bryan’s own “we’ll see what happens in a year and a half” comments to Miz on Talking Smack from March 2017, and Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer saying his contract is up a little more than a year from now.