On the Feb. 8, 2016 episode of Monday Night Raw in his home state of Washington, Daniel Bryan announced that he was being forced to retire due to the multiple concussions he had suffered throughout his career.
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After two long years of rehabilitation while serving as the SmackDown Live general manager, Bryan was finally cleared by WWE doctors and made his miraculous in-ring return at WrestleMania 34. In the months that followed Bryan became a staple of the Blue Brand’s roster, winning the WWE Championship in November and turning heel in the process.
Almost three years to the day Bryan returned to Washington for this week’s episode of SmackDown Live. The reigning WWE Champion reflected his long road to recovery on Twitter on Wednesday.
February 8, 2016 I was forced to retire in my home state of Washington, told I’d never wrestle again. Feb 5, 2019, almost three years to the day, I return home as WWE Champion. #FightForYourDreams
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) February 6, 2019
“February 8, 2016 I was forced to retire in my home state of Washington, told I’d never wrestle again,” Daniel wrote. “Feb 5, 2019, almost three years to the day, I return home as WWE Champion.”
Bryan won the title on the final episode of SmackDown before the Survivor Series pay-per-view, hitting then-champion AJ Styles with a low blow and a Running Knee while the referee was distracted. He quickly changed her persona in the coming weeks to call himself “The New Daniel Bryan,” a heel who was just as obsessed with ecological preservation as he was at remaining WWE Champion.
He even used his forced retirement as part of the reason for his turn, saying that while recovering via daily hyperbaric chamber sessions his “Dreams” began to take over, driving him to do whatever it took to become world champion again after winning it in the main event of WrestleMania XXX.
Under his new persona, Bryan was able to defeat Styles in a rematch at TLC, this beat him again at the Royal Rumble thanks to an assist from his new “intellectual peer,” (Erick) Rowan.
On the Jan. 29 episode of SmackDown Live Bryan debuted a new customized WWE Championship belt made out of hemp with wood plates from naturally-fallen oak tree while throwing the original title in the trash. That same night Triple H announced that Bryan would have to defend the title inside the Elimination Chamber on Feb. 17 against Styles, Samoa Joe, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy and Mustafa Ali.
