10 Wrestlers Who Won't Be In WWE Royal Rumble 2017 Match

4. Daniel Bryan

Kurt Angle
WWE.com

Just before last year's Royal Rumble match, rumors began to swirl that Daniel Bryan could be cleared in time to enter the bout. Not only did that turn out to be untrue, but just a couple of weeks later, Bryan announced his official retirement on Raw, effectively ending any chance for him to compete in WWE again.

Still, Bryan returned to WWE as the General Manager for the Smackdown brand, and soon entered into a feud with The Miz. That feud - and especially a scathing promo Miz cut on Bryan on an episode of Talking Smack - led many to speculate that the former three-time WWE Champion could come back for a brief program with his new archenemy.

As great as it would be if Bryan could wrestle again, it's not going to happen. There will be no Miz-Bryan match at WrestleMania, and Bryan will not surprise the world with an entry in the Royal Rumble match. He won't even cost The Miz the bout, as that would require some physical participation.

As for The Miz entering to Bryan's theme music, that's possible, but it seems unlikely given that things between them have cooled down.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013