Daniel Bryan Reportedly Signs New WWE Contract

Daniel Bryan's contract saga has been one of the more intriguing subplots in WWE this Summer. But if his Hell in a Cell booking wasn't a dead giveaway, Bryan has reportedly re-upped his WWE contract.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Bryan recently inked his new deal.

"Daniel Bryan signed his contract in the last couple of days," Dave Meltzer said last night "As of Monday it was not official because WWE had not yet signed it but that is a formality and it probably will be executed, if it isn't already, any day now. Yeah, he's signed. It's been a given for a while," he said.

While there were grumblings of Bryan leaving WWE upon his contract expiring on September 1, those rumors never seemed to hold water. Given Bryan spent the better part of three years trying to convince WWE to allow him to return, leaving at his first chance seemed a little counter-intuitive.

However, before his contract drama closed, there were reports of WWE keeping him on SmackDown's mid-card until the deal was done. The thinking was that even though his return was expected, WWE could afford to push Bryan to the main event and have him leave the company. So while fans groaned at Bryan's feuds with the likes of Big Cass, it was always part of WWE's plan.

With the news of Bryan and WWE reaching an agreement, his SummerSlam loss to long-time rival The Miz now makes much more sense: it's clear this is long-term booking. Bryan and Miz will tag with their wives at Hell in a Cell, but that will be used to advance their story. After that Miz and Bryan will meet at the October 6 Super Show-Down for a right to challenge for the WWE Championship. By year's end, it's reasonable to expect either Bryan or Miz to pin either AJ Styles or Samoa Joe to become the king of SmackDown.

If that happens, the writing for a massive match at WrestleMania 35 may be on the wall. Miz vs Bryan has always been fancied as a WrestleMania level match, and if the WWE Championship were to be on the line, that's a fight that would sell an infinite amount of tickets.

Clearly, we've already gotten ahead of ourselves, and the only fact in this article is that Bryan has re-signed and he and the Miz will fight a couple more times in 2018. Regardless of his creative plans, it's just good to see Bryan back in a WWE ring.