10 Genius Ways WWE Stars Recovered From Absolute Disaster

5. Daniel Bryan

Disaster: One need only take a look at some interviews with the man between 2016-2017 to realise that Daniel Bryan wasn't a happy bunny. Bored, depressed and eager to pull on some wrestling boots again, D-Bry was also frustrated that WWE wouldn't budge on their stance that he was retired.

So, Bryan had to settle for a mind-numbing role as SmackDown GM and pretend he was delighted to set matches up for others when he really wanted to work them himself. Looking back, it's fairly easy to see that he was less-than-delighted with his lot in life.

How He Recovered: Bryan used some of the same strong-arm tactics fans had used to launch him years before to verbally warn his employer that he was restless. In interviews, he'd speak at length about those outside the company he planned to wrestle. On social media, he'd tease indy dream matches to followers.

Something had to give.

Obviously, WWE wouldn't have let Bryan wrestle under their banner again without proper health clearance, but there's an argument to be made that Daniel's hard-headedness won the day. He got what he wanted in the end, and bounded back onto the active scene at WrestleMania 34.