Daniel Bryan Booked for ‘Greatest Royal Rumble’

Daniel Bryan solidified his miraculous comeback by booking himself in a WrestleMania 34 tag match. However, before he competes for the first time in three years, Bryan has already added another in-ring contest.

Touting John Cena vs. Triple H, an appearance by The Undertaker, and a 50-man Battle Royal, April 27th’s Greatest Royal Rumble will live up its name. And now, Daniel Bryan is officially part of the gargantuan card.

WWE released the following statement to confirm Bryan’s participation.

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA and STAMFORD, Conn. — WWE Superstars Daniel Bryan, Kane, Big Show, Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt are the first of 50 Superstars to officially enter the Greatest Royal Rumble Match, which will take place at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, April 27, at 7 p.m. AST. Tickets for this historic event will be available on Friday, April 13. The Greatest Royal Rumble will stream live on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view outside of the Middle East with regional broadcast information forthcoming.

As the wrestling world continues to celebrate Bryan’s return from wrestling Purgatory, no one knows exactly what his comeback will actually look like. His participation at WrestleMania 34 is locked in, but what happens after? Will he be a full-time WWE Superstar?

Bryan being booked for the Greatest Royal Rumble indicates that WWE plans to keep him active after ‘Mania—something that wasn’t guaranteed. With him already having another match, this suggests that WWE is willing to move forward with Daniel Bryan 2.0.

In his willingness to prove he’s healthy, Bryan has agreed to submit himself to exceptional testing. And according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE has developed a unique, but stringent, medical protocol to monitor the health of the freshly cleared Bryan.

“The only difference between him and every other wrestler on the roster is that part of his agreement when getting WWE to send him to leading neurologists of Maroon’s choosing to get evaluated, is that he agreed, after every match, until WWE was comfortable that he was okay, he would go to the WWE doctors backstage and get Impact testing and a neuropsychological evaluation done.”

If this sounds like an extra hoop for Bryan to jump through, it’s because it is. However, considering the vigilance that charged Bryan’s quest to get medical clearance, an extra test after each match is something the SmackDown GM will happily oblige.