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As Dave Scherer noted earlier on PWInsider.com, World Wrestling Entertainment announced today that former WWE champion Daniel Bryan has been cleared to return to the ring. Today's announcement reads:
"Following more than two years of extensive evaluations, four-time World Champion Daniel Bryan has been medically cleared to return to in-ring competition by leading neurosurgeons, neurologists and concussion experts, including Dr. Robert Cantu, Dr. Javier Cárdenas and Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher. Bryan underwent a full review of his medical history and received comprehensive neurological and physical evaluations independent of WWE. He was cleared by each doctor as well as WWE’s Medical Director, Dr. Joseph Maroon."
The press release that followed WWE's initial announcement included great details on the expertise of all of the medical professionals who cleared Bryan, obviously a move meant to deflect potential criticism of today's decision by showing how deeply the company researched the issue before making the final determination to reverse Bryan's medical disqualification from competing. The belief among those PWInsider.com has spoken to this afternoon is that Dr. Kutcher was very helpful in Bryan's return and that the doctors listed were all specifically sought out by Bryan as a way to get Maroon to reverse his decision that Bryan not be cleared.
Bryan, real name Bryan Danielson, was retired by the company on February 8, 2016 after having been held out of the ring for many months following a series of concussions and not disclosing to the company that he had also suffered from seizures at times in the wake of those concussions.
While it was initially portrayed as Bryan making the decision to retire, it rather quickly came out that it was a decision made for him by WWE management, with Vince McMahon making the call to officially announce the retirement in a tearful speech that aired live on Raw. It was a speech that Bryan gave, but not one that he ever wanted to give. He nearly turned it down, but his wife advised him that since Raw was in Seattle, basically his hometown for pro wrestling purposes, he likely wouldn’t have the chance to get that moment again.
The company immediately set up several Daniel Bryan Tribute-themed live events, but Bryan pulled himself off them, needing time away from the company to deal with depression issues over the end of his career. While Bryan eventually returned to WWE TV as the Smackdown General Manager and remained a constant on WWE's different reality series, he has fought to have the retirement reversed and publicly discussed many times that he had been cleared by concussion specialists all over the country.
Bryan, now 36-years old, had been ordered to retire after testing utilizing modern technology in New York City discovered that his reflexes were slower than most athletes and that there was a lesion in his brain. When WWE learned of the results of the test, one that Bryan decided to take on his own in an attempt to be cleared to return, the retirement was ordered.
On the test, Bryan told Jan Murphy of The Kingston Whig-Standard, "When I told [WWE] that I was taking this test in New York City, they said, 'OK, well let us know the result.' Well, the test hasn't been peer reviewed, and I'm not saying it's a bad test, all I'm saying is this is not something that they're using the standard medical facilities. Alas, something showed up in the testing that WWE didn’t like. It showed a little something and then that becomes the automatic no and I'm just like 'uhhh'....It's this heart-wrenching thing. It's tough because we all get just this one life, right? And when you find something that you love as much as I love wrestling and then they tell you that you can't do it anymore, it becomes really, really tough. And then it becomes really, really tough when now you're around it every week. It's just seeing your friends be able to go out there and do it and then you still can't do it. It's one of those things. I guess I kind of accept it, but I have a certain amount of melancholy with it."
However, as Bryan explained last year during an appearance on the Edge and Christian podcast, he was under the impression that having the lesion meant he had a cut in his brain, but after another doctor who had cleared him reached out asking about the retirement, Bryan was told that a lesion, in medical terminology is “is a very vague term. It just means that something is there. Not necessarily a cut or anything like that.”
When the doctor asked to see the results of the test, Bryan explained on the podcast, he was told that the region of his brain that was said to have the legion had a slower reflex when compared to MMA fighters and football players and athletes that they usually test at that facility but did not show a reflex slower than the average person. Since Bryan was performing and not competing in a sport, his reflex time was actually fine as it would be expected to be closer to an average person, as opposed to a sports athlete.
With doctors not having any previous brain testing results to compare Bryan’s reflects to, there was no measurable way to determine whether he even had issues stemming from the concussions. However, it was not a black or white issue from WWE’s perspective.
The company had made their decision and Bryan had, previously, failed to inform them of seizures he had suffered, which obviously made it hard for the company to then trust him when it came to his medical issues. The company had also never reversed a medically forced retirement.
Impacting the situation was that WWE had been battling a lawsuit that alleged wrongdoing on their part when it came to proper treatment of head injuries and educating talents about the dangers of CTE. While WWE has had many of the allegations against them thrown out, the case continues and the threat of clearing Bryan, only to see him get injured again, was likely not something the company wanted to chance while in the middle of defending themselves.
It became an increasingly complicated issue with Bryan’s first love, competing in the ring, trapped in the middle.
Earlier this year, Paul "Triple H' Levesque was asked about the Daniel Bryan situation while taking part in a WWE panel at the Television Critic's Association and why the company didn't just make an exception to allow Bryan back in the ring, responding, "There can be no exception medically. If the belief is that he’s not healthy enough and there’s a risk [for him] to perform, then I don’t know why you’d allow him to step into the ring unless it can be proven otherwise. There will be no exceptions. We have some of the best medical people in the world that work for us. Our wellness policy, our concussion programming, our protocols — I’ll put them up there against any on the planet. That is a new science in a way, too. So, we’re gonna look at it from all aspects, but the medical experts will make the determination as to whether he can ever step into that ring or not. Look, personally for him, I know it would be something he would love to do, and part of me feels like I hope he has that opportunity. But at the same point in time, he’s married and has a child. Certainly, [we put] the human being first."
Throughout the last several years, Bryan had consistently sought out new treatments and therapies, including hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which some believe assist with the healing of brain issues, to prove WWE otherwise. He consistently worked towards returning to the ring, maintaining publicly how frustrating it was to be so close to professional wrestling, which he loved so much, but being unable to actually perform physically. Bryan stated on the Edge and Christian Podcast that after being examined at the Joe Namath Institute, he was told that, despite his concussion history, he was not a candidate for brain damage.
WWE would not relent. Neither would Bryan, who kept taking tests and undergoing different therapies, exploring ways to help his health and to build his case.
Bryan's frustration was so much that it was well known within the company that Bryan was looking to leave WWE when his current contract expired on September 23, 2018 in order to go back to wrestle outside of the company. New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor had made it clear, in some cases privately, in some publicly, that they were waiting for him. Bryan had wrestled for both and in the case of ROH, was one of the most important performers in terms of putting ROH on the map. His return there would have been massive. Bryan and Cody Rhodes had also teased the idea of Bryan wrestling when the Cody and Young Bucks-branded “All In” show took place, but social media activity that had foreshadowed the idea quietly disappeared.
Bryan had said months ago that if he wasn't cleared to compete at WrestleMania 34, which is three weeks away, he likely would never compete inside a WWE ring ever again. When it was said, it was almost done with the understanding that he was at the end of his WWE run.
With Bryan's return being an obvious money-maker elsewhere, WWE had the choice of clearing him and keeping him in the family, so to speak, or seeing Bryan make money somewhere else.
Something had to give and today, it was WWE, who finally cleared him. The lone holdout before today had been portrayed as being Dr. Joseph Maroon, who heads the WWE Wellness Policy. Obviously, Maroon finally relented, which given the mounting amount of evidence that showed Bryan could physically return, was probably just a matter of time.
Bryan had maintained over the last several years that he wasn't at peace with retiring but would only return if he knew it wouldn't be detrimental to his health, as he was now married and has a daughter.
Bryan's return, even if only part-time, provides a huge boon to WWE as he was one of the most popular performers in the company prior to his retirement and was considered one of the best in-ring performers in the world.
"I still can't believe, you know, that he's not going to be in the ring anymore, because I learned more from him...he was my favorite opponent, ever," Sheamus told PWInsider.com in February 2016, just weeks after Bryan was retired. "We kicked lumps out of each other. His boot marks would literally be on my chest for a week after. We had that match in Chicago, the two out of three falls. We had plenty of matches on top of that. He's a very, very special guy, a very special opponent. I can't say how much he's going to be missed. He's irreplaceable. Like they say, people come and go. You can't replace Daniel Bryan."
WWE couldn't, but now, they've got him back as an in-ring performer. In many ways, it's going to be a boost to the in-ring product similar to the one WWE received in 2002 when Bryan's trainer, Shawn Michaels, returned to action after several years off due to a back injury that initially looked to have retired Michaels.
It is expected that Bryan's return to the ring will play into tonight's Smackdown episode, potentially setting up Bryan's return to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on 4/8 at WrestleMania 34. It's the same city where he headlined Wrestlemania 30, defeating Randy Orton and Batista to win the WWE championship just hours after he defeated Triple H in the opening bout of that PPV, a victory that was so insanely popular that "Yes" chants could be heard hours after the show had ended in the streets of The Big Easy.
What Bryan's role could be remains to be seen, but with AJ Styles potentially injured, there's an obvious dream match in Bryan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. One of Nakamura's reasons for coming to WWE was to wrestle Bryan, who was his roommate at the New Japan Dojo in Los Angeles early in their careers. It's also possible they will go with Bryan & Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, or some other direction that isn't immediately obvious on the surface. Certainly, this decision makes tonight's episode of Smackdown far more intriguing.
While there will obviously be a lot of celebratory responses from those within professional wrestling as well as fans of Bryan (and great wrestling in general), the shadow that looms over all of this is that Bryan did suffer a number of concussions, therefore, even in his return to the ring, there will be great scrutiny of his and WWE’s every move going forward as well as obvious criticisms should Bryan end up injured again.
It appeared in 2016 that Daniel Bryan's WWE story was over. Today, the book opened again. Where the next chapter takes him, tomorrow and long-term, remains to be seen.
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