Daniel Bryan has been absent from the WWE ring for a long time now. He last competed at the Intercontinental Championship final on June 12, where he lost to AJ Styles.
WWE has revealed that he will make his return on the season 2 premiere of SmackDown on FOX.
Daniel Bryan set to return on SmackDown
It was reported earlier that Bryan’s absence was because of family reasons. His wife, former WWE Superstar Brie Bella, was expecting their second child at the time and expressed concerns about Bryan competing amid the pandemic. The couple welcomed their son Buddy into the world in August.
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WWE has now confirmed that Bryan will finally return on WWE SmackDown this Friday. Bryan was retained by the Blue brand in this year’s WWE Draft.
This will be Bryan’s first appearance in The ThunderDome.
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1316801011697278976?s=20
WWE SmackDown lineup for this Friday
The lineup on Friday is otherwise stacked, with a WWE Universal Championship match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman being the biggest draw. The Street Profits will defend their new SmackDown Tag Team title against the Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode.
The New Day’s Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E will face the team-up of Sheamus, Cesaro, and Shinsuke Nakamura. This will be The New Day’s farewell match on the Blue brand, as Kingston and Woods were drafted to RAW in the WWE Draft. Big E was retained by SmackDown, essentially splitting the group up.
The Street Profits exchanged their RAW Tag Team titles with The New Day, in return for the latter’s newly won SmackDown title on this week’s episode of WWE RAW. Both the teams were drafted to opposite brands while holding the tag team title of the respective brands.
A Jeff Hardy vs. Lars Sullivan match is also scheduled for Friday.
The season premiere will kickoff with a special preshow hosted by Hall-of-Famer Booker T and former WWE personality, Renee Young. Several former and current roster Superstars will join them to mark the occasion.
