PWP Original John Dimiceli looks at how WWE was right all along about not clearing Daniel Bryan & thanks them for it.
Thank you WWE
“Can WWE clear me already?!!!”
– Daniel Bryan January 2016
“WWE is holding him back”
“If all these other doctors cleared him, why won’t WWE?”
“If they aren’t going to clear him, then release him.”
– Wrestling fans various times through all of this
Daniel Bryan asked for his release in January, so he could potentially return to ROH and the Indies. WWE denied his request.
– Various reports Monday morning
And then Monday afternoon, this happened:
Due to medical reasons, effective immediately, I am announcing my retirement. Tonight on Raw, I’ll have a chance to elaborate. #gratitude
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) February 8, 2016
With all the dust still settling from the emotion and shock of Daniel Bryan’s announcement, there is one angle to this that most people are ignoring or just refuse to acknowledge.
WWE was right all along.
While I’m sure this is something that WWE didn’t want to be right about, I’m glad they were, and at the end of the day EVERYONE should be. Despite up to 6 doctors clearing Bryan, including the UFC doctor, Dr. Maroon never did. It has been reported that the decision was up to Maroon, and despite the injuries and ratings dips, Vince McMahon would not override Maroon.
From a WWE perspective, this was their only call. They were always in a bad spot with this situation. There were three options and none of them were the easy or right one for the company.
The first option of clearing him could of been a disaster if he got hurt again.
The next option of not clearing him, but making him do things like Tough Enough would make them seem evil in the eyes of the fans.
The third option of releasing him, would hurt them if he went to the Indies or ROH and was shown to be healthy. The other part of that is, heaven forbid he’d get hurt again and the blame would still fall on WWE.
Add to this Daniel Bryan’s comments on ESPN’s Off The Top Rope segment, and we finally saw how scary this situation is for Bryan. Bryan said he told people over time about 10 concussions but admitted there were more he never notified anyone about. He also stated that he was having seizures that he didn’t tell anyone about. Then there was the test in New York when everything came to light. The test showed he had lesions on his brain and they apparently were causing the seizures.
Taking being a fan out of this, you have to see that WWE made the right call.
The similarities between Daniel Bryan and Chris Benoit are scary. I’m not saying Bryan would go full Benoit. I’m sure Benoit never planned to go Benoit, but when the brain is a mess, you never know. The company has pulled many talents due to concussions no matter who they are or what the storyline.
Thank you Daniel Bryan for a great career, and thank you WWE for potentially saving his life.
Thoughts?