Daniel Bryan Gives Deadline for WWE Return

Now that Daniel Bryan is in a combustible storyline with Shane McMahon, there's growing sentiment that their feud may lead to a WrestleMania match. However, WWE has remained rigid in their stance against Bryan returning to in-ring action and the SmackDown GM himself believes that his window to wrestle in WWE is rapidly closing.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Bryan opened up about the complicated situation.

"I assume that if I don't wrestle by WrestleMania, I probably won't be wrestling with WWE at all," said Bryan. "That's my assumption."

Bryan has become increasingly physical over the past few weeks which lead to further speculation that WWE may be considering allowing him to actually wrestle.

"It's not a black and white answer," said Bryan. "There are a lot of issues with me getting cleared by WWE. They have a very strict protocol, which is a good thing, but the timeline of all that happening was not the best for me. It's an interesting situation that will develop."

This is narrative that seems to get more complex by the day. The issue at hand is that Bryan was forced into a premature retirement due to concussion-related injuries. Since, Bryan has been militant in his efforts to get healthy and has actually been cleared by several doctors to wrestle again, even getting the public support of his wife Brie Bella to do so. However, WWE has yet to give Bryan the greenlight, and it's possible they never will.

Now that a deadline is set, we'll be able to end the will he or won't he drama once WrestleMania 34 shuts off its cameras. But, this is a story that isn't going anywhere and it's not unrealistic to hang on to hope that Bryan does make a return. WWE continues to feed feud with Shane and their beef will eventually reach the point where a match needs to be made. Then the only question that will remain is whether or not Bryna will fight for himself or have Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn act as his gladiators.