Daniel Bryan Wanted To Quit WWE And Wrestle For CMLL

Bryan was very serious about wrestling elsewhere before retiring.

Daniel Bryan wanted to quit WWE and wrestle for another company, Dave Meltzer is reporting in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He had been studying CMLL heavily, and had actually grown his hair with the idea of going there and doing a hair versus mask match. The fact he was putting so much thought into his post-WWE career shows how serious he was about leaving. He was also looking at Ring Of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. "He was watching those promotions and it was something he was genuinely excited about doing, thinking he could help the industry as a whole to use his stardom to help build a larger following for the other companies," Meltzer states. He actually asked Vince McMahon for the release. Unsurprisingly, McMahon denied it. Contractually, WWE could keep him tied down to the deal they had, due to injuries allowing the company to freeze time left on contracts. He would have been paid to basically not leave, as his appearance elsewhere could have hurt WWE. However, with Bryan's latest medical testing showing a problem with his brain, he has now made the decision to retire. He won't be wrestling elsewhere. His retirement speech on Raw this week was a shoot, he really is done in the industry. He'll remain on a WWE contract and fans should expect further character appearances.
WWE Writer

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