Daniel Bryan Announces He Will Return to Action in 2015 Royal Rumble

Daniel Bryan shot down any chance that he's walking away from WWE on Monday night's edition of Raw.

With many speculating that the former WWE World Heavyweight champion would announce his retirement, Bryan instead proclaimed that he will enter the 2015 Royal Rumble match, per the WWE:

His wife, Brie Bella, was thrilled with the news:

Former Divas champion Paige said she had goosebumps when listening to Bryan's passionate promo:

Earlier in the day, Bryan fired off this ominous tweet:

He'd been suffering from various health problems over the past year, between neck surgery in May and reportedly Tommy John surgery in August, so many jumped to the conclusion that his in-ring career was now officially over.

Instead, Bryan will now enter the Royal Rumble match as the heavy favorite. The company is short on top stars at the moment, and Roman Reigns hasn't exactly set the world ablaze since returning. Meanwhile, guys like Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler and Bray Wyatt aren't in a position to main event WrestleMania right now.

WrestlingINC.com thinks a main event between Bryan and Brock Lesnar would tell a great story at WrestleMania 31:

There's also the slim chance that John Cena beats Lesnar at Royal Rumble, setting up another Bryan-Cena title match at WrestleMania. This time, Cena sides with The Authority in order to beat Bryan, making his long sought-after heel turn and setting up a months-long feud with Bryan. It would be similar to Stone Cold Steve Austin aligning with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 17 in order to topple The Rock.

No matter what happens a few months from now, WWE fans will simply be happy to see Bryan back in the ring and healthy enough to wrestle.