WWE Rumor: Internal Politics Preventing Daniel Bryan From Returning To The Ring
Ex-WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan has been out of action for the better part of the last two years due to injury. In the spring of 2014, he missed roughly seven months due to a neck issue. He then announced his return in December of last year, which lasted about four months before he was forced out of action again, this time due to a concussion issue.
When Bryan was initially injured earlier this year, WWE kept the actual issue that was keeping him out of the ring a secret, and so did Bryan. Even when he relinquished his Intercontinental Championship back in May, he didn’t even hint at what the issue was. All he said was that he could be back in a couple of weeks, a couple of months, a year, or he may never wrestle again.
One month later, WWE legend Bret “The Hitman” Hart gave the details of Bryan’s injury during an interview with Sports Illustrated. In the interview, Hart said that he believed that Daniel Bryan will never wrestle again due to the amount of concussions that he had suffered throughout his career. Hart then compared Daniel Bryan’s current status to his own in 2000 following his match with Goldberg in WCW, where Hart suffered a career-ending concussion.
WWE wasn’t happy that Hart revealed the details of Bryan’s injury, as they were in the middle of a concussion lawsuit filed by several ex-WWE wrestlers. In order to avoid any additional headaches with the lawsuit – no pun intended – WWE wanted to keep Bryan’s concussion a secret.
Bryan then did a series of interviews promoting his book, where he discussed his health, and revealed that he, in fact, was being kept out of action due to a concussion issue.
Since then, it’s been quite the process for Daniel Bryan in terms of him getting cleared to get back into the ring by WWE. Bryan has said in the past that he’s seen several doctors, one who works closely with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, that have told him that he’s fine, and that he should be allowed to get back in the ring at any time. However, WWE’s head of medical, Dr. Joseph Maroon, has advised WWE to not let Bryan return to the ring.
So, with Bryan coming out and saying that several doctors have given him the okay to return to action, and with WWE not allowing him to, some have gotten the idea that WWE is aware that he can return to the ring, however, they won’t allow him to. Not because they’re looking out for his long-term health, but because they don’t want him to return and throw a wrench in their WrestleMania plans for the third year in a row.
This subject was addressed on Thursday’s Wrestling Observer Radio by Dave Meltzer, who said that WWE is legitimately concerned about Daniel Bryan’s long-term health, but at the same time, they know that clearing him and bringing him back any time before WrestleMania 32 next April would force them to change their plans for the event yet again, which is something that they don’t want to do.
“If [Daniel Bryan] is cleared, as far as when they bring him back, [internal politics] be an issue. The problem is that, with any other wrestler who is at his level, if he was cleared you’d bring him back. But with him, because of the fan-base, and because Daniel Bryan’s popularity screwed up two WrestleManias in a row in their minds, with their plans, you have to be careful about bringing him back, especially this year, where the goal is to make up for what he screwed up last year, and if WWE brings him back now, he’ll screw up this year’s plans too.”
There was some chatter among the fans about WWE bringing Daniel Bryan back to compete in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament that will culminate at this Sunday’s Survivor Series, but WWE ultimately decided to not have any surprised enter the tournament.
Moreover, WWE ignoring their head of medical’s advice, which is to not allow Daniel Bryan to wrestle, wouldn’t put the company in the best light. So that has to be taken into consideration when discussing a potential Daniel Bryan return.
[Featured image via WWE]
