This week’s episode of SmackDown Live was an interesting show for Daniel Bryan. The former WWE Champion kicked off SmackDown this week and the Seattle fans gave him a tremendous ovation as he made his way down to the ring.
Related: Elimination Chamber Go-Home Smackdown Live Recap And Analysis
Daniel Bryan unfortunately had to retire earlier that he would have liked to, and he pointed out that he retired one year ago. Today is actually the one year anniversary of Bryan’s retirement and he’s made it well known that if WWE would clear him, he would wrestle, so one has to imagine that this anniversary is very bittersweet for the former champion.
Although WWE will likely never clear Bryan for an in-ring return, he did step back into the ring after this week’s episode of 205 Live and he worked as a special guest referee.
Once everything was said and done with 205 Live, Dean Ambrose made his way down to the ring to defend his Intercontinental Championship against The Miz. Maryse accompanied The Miz to the ring but she was eventually rejected due to interference and Ambrose managed to pick up the win by hitting Miz with Dirty Deeds.
Surely they would have rather seen Daniel Bryan wrestle instead, but judging from the reaction he received from the crowd this week, it’s likely that the Seattle fans were still pretty thrilled to see Daniel Bryan throw on the striped shirt and enforce the rules for this IC Title bout.
Daniel Bryan returned to in-ring action tonight in Seattle… as a special guest referee BUT STILL. #SmackdownLive #darkmatch pic.twitter.com/sFSNcMibaB
— Seth Sommerfeld (@sethsommerfeld) February 8, 2017
Dark Match for the #ICTitle Dean Ambrose vs The Miz with Daniel Bryan as the referee. #SDLive #WWESeattle pic.twitter.com/PMYvrqMjTy
— Your Local Antihero (@WanderPartyLust) February 8, 2017
Daniel Bryan as the special ref for Miz vs. Dean Ambrose. 🙆🙆🙆 #205Live pic.twitter.com/h5Fq6R66mK
— Ashley (@n_ashleyy) February 8, 2017
