Is Daniel Bryan’s WWE retirement a work?

Could the announcement of a retirement from Daniel Bryan all just be part of a bigger plan?

Well, to say that the professional wrestling world was shook up on Monday would be a huge understatement. Just a few hours before RAW is set to take place in Seattle, Daniel Bryan announced that he will indeed be appearing on the show like we all thought — but it will be to announce his retirement from in-ring competition.

Yes, our worst fears for the future of Bryan were confirmed on Monday with the news that his in-ring days are no more and he will never be able to entertain us in that manner ever again. One of the best workers of this generation was unable to get medically cleared to return and now it’s all over.

But … is it really?

While this seems like a very serious announcement and is being treated as such, there are a lot of people out there who are remembering that this is professional wrestling after all, and things such as “works” do exist. For those that do not know, a “work” is when professional wrestling passes something off as being real, when in reality it’s all part of the show more or less. There’s an old adage that you never say never in the world of professional wrestling, so really anything is possible. And with WrestleMania right around the corner here coming up on April 3, it makes the timing of this all seem suspicious.

But when it comes to Bryan’s injury, it seems pretty unlikely that this is a work. The concussion that he suffered last year, coupled with the injuries that he has incurred throughout his career, are not really something to play around with. Even though doctors outside of the company were able to clear him, there was something holding back the WWE medical brass from giving him the nod, so something has to be up in that regard.

Really, at this point the only way that we’ll know whether or not this whole thing is a work is when we tune into RAW on Monday night and watch Bryan make the announcement in front of his home Seattle crowd.