It's become clear this week that former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan is now a free agent and no longer under contract with WWE. After losing to Roman Reigns during last Friday's episode of SmackDown, the Leader of the Yes Movement was "banished" from the blue brand, but little did we know that his deal expired on April 30th!
While it was initially believed that Bryan would head to RAW or NXT, it's looking more and more likely that he's completely finished with WWE, something he hinted at prior to WrestleMania when he talked about wanting to compete for other companies.
Now, in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer has clarified where things stand.
"He could show up next week on Raw. He could legally show up next week on AEW. I actually think if we weren’t in a pandemic situation and without the quarantine issues that he’d probably be wrestling at the Tokyo Dome show, but we are. He’s free to negotiate with everyone and WWE was trying to sign him before the deal expired and that door is still very much open."
In other words, there's no 90-day non-compete and Bryan is free to do whatever he wants in the wrestling world. All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite just scored a huge victory by drawing over 1 million viewers and ranking #1 on cable, so it would certainly make sense for Bryan to debut there next week before heading around the globe to take part in dream matches he's likely thought about for a decade.
We'll keep you updated as we learn more...