I honestly think it was smarter to announce this on twitter first, fans love Bryan to death so even though the pop would've likely been insane, it's not like knowing about it beforehand did much to change the crowd's enthusiasm. They still managed to create an active impression on the show, I loved that moment where everyone in the audience pointed to the WrestleMania sign when Bryan began pondering when he's return should happen. I also appreciated the "Thank you Brie" chants, and I'm sure he did too. It makes way more sense for the to use the power of social media, to generate loads of hype and anticipation for Smackdown Live. Plus, the story-teller in me loves the symmetry displayed here because I don't know if you remember, but his retirement was announced ahead of time on twitter too.
For me, this all seemed like a foregone conclusion with how much his presence dominated in the main angle of Smackdown Live, including even giving him something of a bump at Clash of Champions. Not to mention, pretty much all the time I've spent hearing Bryan talk about his condition, it seemed unreasonable that he wouldn't be cleared by WWE eventually. But regardless, I'm still stoked that it happened, there's always a chance for things to go wrong after all. Wish his return match was something I actually cared about but regardless, the potential match-ups for Daniel Bryan after this are pretty exciting.