Daniel Bryan was forced to retire from in-ring competition due to WWE doctors noting that he had suffered a brain lesion from multiple concussions, but as he pointed out during an episode of Talking Smack earlier this year, he's free to do what he likes when his contract with the company ends roughly a year and a half from now.
In a recent interview for the Inside The Ropes podcast, Bryan was again asked about returning to action and said that he's open to wrestling again even if it's not in WWE. "It all depends on how I feel my health is and how my wife feels my health is," he revealed. "If we feel like my health is good, I love to wrestle, and I’m gonna go wrestle. But if we feel at that point that it’s not good, then we’ll see what happens."
That's sensible, though as Bryan has received clearance from a number of non-WWE doctors, it seems highly likely that we'll see him pop up on the independents or NJPW. WWE could make an effort to have him stick around, of course, but he made it clear that them not wanting him in the ring ultimately boils down to their liability.
"I understand why they won’t let me wrestle. It’s a liability thing. It’s also that they’re trying to protect me and that sort of thing. But there’s good reason to believe that I should be able to wrestle. So we’ll see in a year and a half what happens."
Bryan and his wife Brie Bella recently welcomed a baby girl in the form of Birdie Joe Danielson, so his priorities may have changed by the time his contract expires. Wrestling fans would understandably love to see him back in the ring, but at the of the day, his health is what really matters!