What's the story?
Daniel Bryan's return to in-ring action is one of the biggest things to have happened in professional wrestling, perhaps ever. Which is why his return so far has felt lacklustre to many, with a feud against the now fired Big Cass and a Team Hell No reunion with Kane.
However, it seems things would be different if the WWE didn't ignore Daniel Bryan's own creative suggestions, as the Superstar himself alleges.
In case you didn't know...
Daniel Bryan reunited with Kane to re-form Team Hell No after finding himself on the receiving end of a battering from the Bludgeon Brothers (I deliberately didn't say bludgeoning, you're welcome!)
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Team Hell No are set to take on the Bludgeon Brothers this Sunday at WWE's next pay-per-view Extreme Rules where the newly reformed tag-team will be hoping to claim the SmackDown Live tag-team titles from the division's most dominant tag-team.
The heart of the matter
Daniel Bryan recently spoke to podcast 'The Guerrilla Position' (h/t wrestlingnews.co) where he discussed the level of creative influence he has over his own storylines and matches and it turns out, it's not that much.
“If I see stuff on the show that I don’t like, right, I’ll be like, ‘okay,’ for me, for my stuff, I’ll go in and I’ll say, like, ‘hey, I don’t like this because of this, this, and this. Here’s my idea of how to fix it, how I think it’s better.
And 95 percent of the time, nothing changes, but I’m not like, ‘you need to do this’ or ‘you need to do that’ or whatever it is. It’s like, ‘hey, this is my opinion from my experience within this business and this is how I think it would work better both for me and who I’m working with.’ But I don’t fight for it because I’m happy to be back.”
Bryan reveals that he doesn't fight enough to get what he wants because as he says in his own words - he's 'happy to be back'. He mentioned a conversation with Shawn Michaels where Michaels told him that Cena had to fight every day for his segments to be as good as possible and Bryan admits that's a mind-set he'll need to get back into.
What's next?
There are still doubts about Daniel Bryan's long-term status, with the Superstar himself still dropping cheeky hints that he might ply his trade elsewhere when his contract expires this fall.
There are also reports from wrestling sites that the WWE is rushing to hit all the greatest hits and dream matches as quickly as possible before Bryan leaves.
Personally I think the fact he's been announced for the Super Show-Down in October and a WWE show in December should tell you everything you need to know about Bryan's long-term status.
Do you guys think Bryan will stay with WWE? Have your say in the comments.