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WWE News: Daniel Bryan Suffered Mental Breakdown After Retirement

By Shawn Lealos
Published on: 14:22 PST, Aug 15, 2016

Daniel Bryan said at one time that he would continue wrestling as long as he could. When he feuded with John Cena, Bryan said that if he left the WWE, he would still wrestle in the indies because professional wrestling is what he loved. That is probably what made the forced Daniel Bryan retirement so hard and Bryan told the Kingston Whig-Standard that he suffered a mental breakdown after his retirement.

Daniel Bryan had just reached the top of the WWE, winning the world title at WrestleMania by pinning both Triple H and Batista and he was ready to start his title reign. However, after just one match with his former tag team partner Kane, Bryan suffered a serious neck injury. It looked like his career might have ended.

However, Daniel Bryan worked hard and returned less than a year later and ended up winning the Intercontinental title at the next year’s WrestleMania in a ladder match. It wasn’t as big as his world title win the year before, but it was still a major moment for Daniel. It was also the last major moment for Bryan because concussion issues forced him to retire completely from the WWE, despite trying everything to keep involved in wrestling.

“It’s hard because I was cleared by concussions specialists in Phoenix and cleared by concussion specialists at UCLA, like a team of doctors. And I kept trying to go to different places to try to get more and more people to clear me so that all of the evidence would be on my side.”

The WWE is on very shaky ground when it comes to concussions and are involved in a major lawsuit against almost 50 former superstars who suffered injuries over their careers. Plus, Bryan married Brie Bella and had a family now to consider outside of his wrestling career.

It was a hard choice to retire, but Daniel knew that he had to do it for his own health, his wife, and his future. He also knew that he needed to get as far away from the WWE as possible, although his participation in Tital Divas made that hard. He said he spent four weeks at John Cena’s house and the cameras were on the entire time.

This all resulted in Daniel Bryan, someone who only knew how to be a professional wrestler, having the mental breakdown. He said that it was a horrible moment and one that he had to deal with by getting away from everything WWE.

“I needed to get away from all of that and just get out to be by some trees. It’s hard for me. I don’t do really well in cities, which is crazy given that we’re flying in and out of these major cities every week. Brie describes it as anxiety. And she would be accurate. I get this anxiety in cities and places like that. When you grow up in kind of a small town and when you grow up around a lot of green and trees and nature and that sort of thing, sometimes I think it’s a little mentally disconcerting to be around this concrete.”

Related WWE Reports By The Inquisitr

As The Inquisitr previously reported, Daniel Bryan is back in the WWE as the general manager of WWE Smackdown Live, and fans get to see their hero once again up close, but it brings about more problems for Daniel. When he looks at his career, Bryan said that he still hasn’t come to terms with his retirement because he feels there is nothing wrong with him.

However, Bryan knows that he can’t wrestle anymore so he seems ready to make the most of it. The WWE is rumored to have both Nikki and Brie Bella make their returns to Smackdown Live if they come back so they can remain with John Cena and Daniel Bryan. While Daniel wants to wrestle again, it is better for him to remain in the role he has undertaken.

[Image via WWE]

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