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Is Daniel Bryan Nearing The End Of The Road?


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That all sounds good but at the same time, none of that means he isn't still way more susceptible to getting another concussion than the rest of the roster.

 

Right, he might test fine after months on the shelf and the fact that he's a very intelligent, thoughtful person (and it also helps that he doesn't do drugs or drink (at least that's the book on him, I think he probably puffs a bit and drinks on rare occasions) and lives a pretty clean lifestyle) who will naturally do well on those reaction and memory kind of tests......but it's been established science that the more concussions you have the more susceptible you are to the next one......and wrestling the high impact style he does it's just a matter of time til the next one

 

I was very disappointed when he came back and didn't change up his style at all, after giving lip service to doing so while he was out. There's no reason he can't cut out the high spots and work a mat based William Regal style with chain wrestling and strikes and still be just as over. He doesn't need to do the diving headbutt, suicide dives, missile dropkick and all the crazy bumps to be over. And let's face it, WWE will never trust him in a top spot again after coming out of WM injured two years in a row, so he should be happy in an upper-midcard mainstay spot having great matches and being popular. I also love the idea of him going to NXT and being the ace there for a while, helping some of the newcomers, and he'd definitely be a huge draw for them as they try to conquer ROH with the brand

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Quite frankly "Daniel Bryan MUST be the top star and the Mania main event!" is a ridiculous attitude. My eyes might just roll out of my head if I keep reading about how he should quit WWE if he can't be THE top guy and main event every WrestleMania card he's on.

 

Agreed. I was only pulling for Bryan to be in the Main Event this year because I wanted to see him work with Brock, but it wasn't a travesty just because they didn't fulfill my fantasy.

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One of the many problems the WWE face if Bryan comes back is what level of push they give him. Given his susceptibility to concussions, and how they've had to drop two big storylines in consecutive years due to Bryan's injuries, it's clear they can't give him a huge main event push in case they have to shelve plans yet again. However, will the fans be willing to accept this? I believe that a good proportion of the Reigns backlash wouldn't have happened if Bryan hadn't been back in time for the Rumble, so is the presence of a non-pushable Bryan going to overshadow another face they want to make a top guy?

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Bryan was still over when he left, and the people certainly still reacted to him like he was a star. But 2015 Daniel Bryan reactions are not 2013-2014 Daniel Bryan reactions. I think if he did come back, the fan outrage over him not being the top guy wouldn't be there this time around. Of course, it was his ringwork that started the groundswell of support for him anyway, so if he started delivering in the ring again, the same thing could happen for sure. But I think the chances of it are fairly low. WWE pretty much beat their fanbase into a state of submission between the Rumble and Fastlane.

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I think part of the blame lies on WWE booking, but I also feel part of the blame lies on the out of sight, out of mind nature of the wrestling business. The fans got burned out of seeing Bryan wrestle two years in a row due to injury. A lot of fans just lose investment in a guy when he runs into a string of setbacks like that.

 

I know he was never anywhere near as over, but look at Ahmed Johnson. He was really hot in 1996, then he got hurt and it wasn't the same. He kept getting hurt and he was less over each time he came back. It sucks, but that's just the way it goes unfortunately.

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He pretty much confirms that he'll wrestle "somewhere" if WWE doesn't clear him (and has talked to Vince and Hunter about it), and he admits there's a real chance they never will.

 

He also says he'll change his style - but who knows what that really means - and gives more details on his concussion and arm injury.

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It's crazy that pro-wrestlers still have that old school mentality of trying to "work through" so much stuff going wrong. Especially in a post-Benoit world & with all we have learned about concussions recently.

 

I don't understand the rationality. I've never been so passionate about anything in my life where if I was told "stop or you might die" that I would keep wanting to do it. Let alone fucking work. Because although they might not always see it, at the end of the day, this is a goddamn job, that you pay your bills with.

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Because although they might not always see it, at the end of the day, this is a goddamn job, that you pay your bills with.

This is sort of a devil's advocate thing but that quoted part might be precisely why they don't want to stop working. How many of those guys went to school and got degrees to set themselves up for a life post wrestling? Most of these broken down wrestlers just simply can't get jobs elsewhere and they have not been wise with their money and saving it...so they have to keep doing all they know to do...wrestle.

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Yeah, he talks about it in his book. He never finished college and always goes back to saying that wrestling is the only thing he knows what to do, is good at it and still feels a great deal of passion about it.

 

 

I don't understand the rationality. I've never been so passionate about anything in my life where if I was told "stop or you might die" that I would keep wanting to do it. Let alone fucking work. Because although they might not always see it, at the end of the day, this is a goddamn job, that you pay your bills with.

 

The problem is that in his mind, he's in great shape. Even though he knows concussions are a big deal and he's had a number of them, not only does he feel fine but he's gotten confirmation from a renown doctor that he's in condition to perform. There's no "stop or you might die" advice, on the contrary, he's being told "you are fine, go back to doing it". It's gotta be hard as fuck not to listen to a legit doctor that is pretty much giving the green light to wrestle and shows you stuff that turns almost every optimistic wish you had about your injury true.

 

I'm not saying I believe Bryan is really 100% -as it has been mentioned before, the more concussions you get, the more prone to get them you are, no matter how great your brain looks in a scanner - and I get people being worried about him but I also understand where he's coming from.

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I'm not saying I believe Bryan is really 100% -as it has been mentioned before, the more concussions you get, the more prone to get them you are, no matter how great your brain looks in a scanner - and I get people being worried about him but I also understand where he's coming from.

I think part of the problem is that he has a history of lying about injuries just so he can wrestle. This, combined with the Punk lawsuits, makes it harder than it normally would for him.

 

It's kind of sad, to be honest. Bryan's only 34, has had an amazing career and still has time to do something else with his life. He comes across as a guy who doesn't seem like he's thought much about the future and seems to be on track to wrestling until he's broken down. There's a line between being driven and being dumb.

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Just finished the "YES" book. In it, he admitted to lying to the WWE doctor about his injury history when he they wanted to hire him and he had to go through their medical testing. Nigel McGuinness was more truthful and didn't get hired. I always thought it was because of Hep C, but I must have gotten my wires crossed somewhere, because Bryan listed a physical injury of some sort being the reason Nigel didn't get a contract.

 

There's also a pretty great story about Ezekiel Jackson disrespecting Bryan on an airplane, and Regal letting him have it. :D

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My gut tells me that Dragon is done.... kind of. I see a short run or a carefully constructed handful of matches down the road a ways, even if it is in ROH. I can't see him not ever wrestling again. Ultimately, Dragon is going to wind up being a WWE hall of famer on the back of him being a tragic wrestling story, but one that people can ultimately feel good about. He is a good guy, clean as a whistle. His career wasn't cut short by drugs or alcohol, but by hard work and dedication. That, on top of his talent and knowledge, make him a very valuable asset to the wwe, even if he never steps foot in the ring again. With any luck it will help inspire a different conversation about the pressures put on wrestlers and the physical sacrifices they make.

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pro athletes in other sports who have long histories of concussions get cleared to play again all the time. If you pass the tests and a neurologist clears you then you're considered 100% and cleared to play. This is all with the knowledge that they may be more susceptible to concussions given their history, but at this point in time in all the major pro sports that fact alone is not enough to stop teams from clearing someone. Maybe there needs to be some kind of line draw there, but that's just not how it is.

 

The difference in this situation is that WWE is super worried about covering their own ass so they are hesitant to clear him in case he gets hurt in the future. Now maybe you think that's for the best, but I'm just trying to point out that the "he should just hang 'em up" narrative does not jive with how other professional sports handle head injuries. Typically if you're symptom free and pass the tests then you will be cleared, and in many cases these guys come back from serious concussions and make a full recovery and never have a problem again. So I guess my point is that I don't think it's fair to jump to the conclusion that he should just retire since it is fairly common to come back from these things and still have a long and healthy career.

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pro athletes in other sports who have long histories of concussions get cleared to play again all the time. If you pass the tests and a neurologist clears you then you're considered 100% and cleared to play. This is all with the knowledge that they may be more susceptible to concussions given their history, but at this point in time in all the major pro sports that fact alone is not enough to stop teams from clearing someone. Maybe there needs to be some kind of line draw there, but that's just not how it is.

 

The difference in this situation is that WWE is super worried about covering their own ass so they are hesitant to clear him in case he gets hurt in the future. Now maybe you think that's for the best, but I'm just trying to point out that the "he should just hang 'em up" narrative does not jive with how other professional sports handle head injuries. Typically if you're symptom free and pass the tests then you will be cleared, and in many cases these guys come back from serious concussions and make a full recovery and never have a problem again. So I guess my point is that I don't think it's fair to jump to the conclusion that he should just retire since it is fairly common to come back from these things and still have a long and healthy career.

There is definitely a "concussion stigma" with certain guys in the NFL now though. Look at a guy like Wes Welker who still wants to play but no one really wants to touch him due to his concussion history. He's passed his tests too but if you google Wes Welker you'll get a bunch of "Wes Welker should retire" hits. This reads very much like with a few tweaks this story could be about Bryan.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2015/07/24/champ-bailey-wants-wes-welker-to-retire-because-of-concussions/

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  • 2 years later...

So in an interview early in the week, Brie Bella kinda confirmed Bryan will wrestle again and has her support to do it - in WWE or anywhere else - as long as he gets cleared.

 

Dave had a little update on this on the WON but it didn't have much new information, he mostly speculated on scenarios once his deal is up next year.

 

Today he was on the E&C podcast and Bryan went into all the details of his injury and what he's doing to make a return. A lot of interesting stuff. It starts at the 2 hr mark, before that he talked about watching people like Lawler, Bock and old man Tenryu to go for a "safer style" (he said something similar when he came back from his neck surgery though).

 

https://youtu.be/uHCGWalHKtg?t=7207

 

Second half of 2018 is gonna be interesting, to say the least.

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He's probably no better or worse than any other wrestler who's been doing it as long as he has. What's different is he made the mistake of being honest to WWE doctors about the seizures he had years ago when most guys probably would have lied about it.

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So in an interview early in the week, Brie Bella kinda confirmed Bryan will wrestle again and has her support to do it - in WWE or anywhere else - as long as he gets cleared.

 

Dave had a little update on this on the WON but it didn't have much new information, he mostly speculated on scenarios once his deal is up next year.

 

Today he was on the E&C podcast and Bryan went into all the details of his injury and what he's doing to make a return. A lot of interesting stuff. It starts at the 2 hr mark, before that he talked about watching people like Lawler, Bock and old man Tenryu to go for a "safer style" (he said something similar when he came back from his neck surgery.

I've decided that we'll accept his late GWE ballot if he submits it.

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It's kind of amazing how in a business built on lies and the lying liars who tell them, that telling the truth will most likely be the end of Bryan's US based career. If/when he's away from WWE I don't see a US based company wanting to take the risk of signing him with how vocal he's been with his many concussions. If he ever does wrestle it's going to have to be in Japan or Mexico.

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