Daniel Bryan Expected Back By Next January

[The GOAT]

http://whatculture.com/wwe/daniel-bryan-wont-return-from-injury-until-wwe-royal-rumble-2015.php

The WWE is currently working on the basis that Daniel Bryan won’t return from injury until January 2015, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

At that point Bryan would return at the Royal Rumble, taking up the spot of the third most important wrestler in the company. He had previously been the firm number two man, if not the almost equal to John Cena’s number one spot. However, his long term absence with a neck injury has relegated his status. This past week he found out he would need a second surgery on the nerve damage, effectively ruling him out for a further six months. There are now long term plans for John Cena to be the number one guy, with Roman Reigns the heir apparent. Bryan would return as a strong third franchise star, but the top two babyface positions are now locked for Cena and Reigns.

The loss of status will be a personal blow to Bryan, who was the key man at this year’s WrestleMania 30. His main event victory seemed to be the start of his career push, but it now looks as if it was in fact his peak. The reason for his loss of momentum was the nerve injury in his vertebrae, which required a surgery in May. Since that surgery, Bryan has failed to recover strength in his right arm. As a result, it was decided last week that he will undergo the second surgery. The Wrestling Observer reports that the recovery time will be a further five to six months, leading to the reported January return time.

The new surgery will see Bryan’s nerve moved and placed under his muscle. The star has noted that while he doesn’t have strength on the right side, the injury isn’t aggravating in daily life. Hopefully he will have a speedy recovery and be back to action as soon as possible.

I wonder what this means for Roman Reigns' push. Clearly (as the article states) their intentions are for Reigns to become the next breakout star while Bryan gets positioned as the #3 guy but as we saw earlier this year, that doesn't mean plans will quite work out that way. The fans may be so hot for Bryan again that the WWE will be left with no choice but to book him to win the Royal Rumble and become champion again by defeating either John Cena or (urgh) Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 31. My personal feelings are that Bryan almost has to win the Royal Rumble now. The whole story of having your title stripped from you after sustaining an almost career-ending injury in your first title defense (a title won after spending months and months of going through hell to get it back), and then fighting back from the injury and winning the Rumble and then regaining the championship at Wrestlemania pretty much writes itself.

Next year's Rumble should be real interesting, to say the least.

 

[Brad.]

You think fans are going to force them to change their Wrestlemania main-event again? Lesnar (c) vs. Reigns sounds a lot better than Orton (c) vs. Batista. Won't happen. Hopefully we get Bryan vs. Angle at Wrestlemania, which Angle has already said he wants to do.

 

[The GOAT]

I think Reigns vs Cena is a lot more likely next year than Reigns vs Lesnar. They're already planting the seeds for it and I seriously, seriously doubt Lesnar is keeping the championship from August to April. They're not gonna go eight straight months where the WWE Championship is never defended on house shows.

Also, if the fans are rapid enough to see Daniel Bryan become champion again, then yes, WWE should find it wise to have him win the Rumble this time around. They wouldn't want a repeat of the same scenario that they were faced with this year.

 

[seabs]

Bryan is going to be too over to be #3 in the short term atleast imo. I'm guessing Bryan loses the Rumble to Reigns,Cena loses the title at EC to Bryan and the run the re-match to a triple threat. It could happen the other way round actually but yeah that seems to work in my mind.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

people are going to be over Bryan. we've seen his little Cinderella story play out. we don't need to see It again

 

[Prince Bálor]

D-Bry - 2015 Royal Rumble winner? YES, please! They'd better right the wrong that they did this year by not letting him win the RR.

 

[seabs]

people are going to be over Bryan. we've seen his little Cinderella story play out. we don't need to see It again

I doubt it,has any seriously over performer returned from an injury and lost overness?

 

[The GOAT]

I doubt it,has any seriously over performer returned from an injury and lost overness?

On top of that, has any injured performer returned right around the time of the Rumble and yet lost the Rumble match itself? HHH and Cena both returned from serious injuries and won their respective Rumbles (HHH in '02, Cena in '08.) Austin in '01 counts too, even though he'd already been back for four months before then.

 

[Brad.]

people are going to be over Bryan. we've seen his little Cinderella story play out. we don't need to see It again

Bryan will still be huge because the main-event picture is so thin these days. But he won't win the Rumble, or ever main-event a Wrestlemania again imo.

On top of that, has any injured performer returned right around the time of the Rumble and yet lost the Rumble match itself? HHH and Cena both returned from serious injuries and won their respective Rumbles (HHH in '02, Cena in '08.) Austin in '01 counts too, even though he'd already been back for four months before then.

Well, yeah obviously, Sheamus this year, for example.

 

[seabs]

On top of that, has any injured performer returned right around the time of the Rumble and yet lost the Rumble match itself? HHH and Cena both returned from serious injuries and won their respective Rumbles (HHH in '02, Cena in '08.) Austin in '01 counts too, even though he'd already been back for four months before then.

Edge did it too didn't he? Yeah you're probably right actually.

 

[The GOAT]

Bryan will still be huge because the main-event picture is so thin these days. But he won't win the Rumble, or ever main-event a Wrestlemania again imo.



Well, yeah obviously, Sheamus this year, for example.

In all fairness, Sheamus had fallen down the totem pole by his return this year and no one plausibly thought he would win. He wasn't anywhere near as over as the other guys who have won after returning from injury, or Bryan.

Edge did it too didn't he? Yeah you're probably right actually.

Forgot all about Edge. He won the 2010 match.

 

[Red Rain]

Let's put this into perspective for Daniel Bryan:
The Rock never walked out of WM with the WWE championship and he was never, ever booked stronger than Stone Cold Steve Austin. He was, however, their #1 PR guy and being groomed for the #1 spot before he left in 2001. It was in 2001, that Vince had to realize the writing was on the wall that the Rock had a better gig. By 2002, the new generation was here to usurp the Attitude Era.

Bryan, as popular as he is, hasn't surpassed Cena. He is a bit old-ish being 33 on his way to being 34. His revenue numbers aren't too favorable and shoulder/neck injuries are extremely scary stuff. WWE doesn't want to halt Reigns momentum for a 34 year old, with a bum neck who's numbers are as a draw sketchy. Neck injuries are scary. They've taken out Austin, Edge, Benoit and Kurt Angle to name a few.

I've had the same issues as Bryan has and it is a neck issue. It's extremely painful, even to train. That nerve is required to lift weights and build your upper body. Bryan needs all the strength he can get. Will WWE halt Reigns because the Universe 'like' Daniel Bryan? The numbers say not so much. What we may have here is a Mick Foley type of situation, which is fine by me.

 

[The GOAT]

33/34 isn't old at all lol. I know it's older for a physical athlete than it is for a normal person, but barring any spontaneous event where Bryan is forced into retirement because of his already existing injuries, he could still go for another ten or fifteen years. Most wrestlers can still perform well into their forties. Age is sometimes just a number. I agree that Reigns will almost certainly get the push at next year's Wrestlemania, but in the long run, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a repeat of The New Generation Era where they intend on making the big guy the new face of the company (Diesel and now Reigns) but the smaller, more technically-gifted wrestlers end up overtaking him and outshining him in popularity anyway (Bret and Shawn back then, and Bryan now.)

And where did you read that Bryan's merchandise wasn't selling well? He's #2 behind John Cena the last I checked.

 

[CFCrusader]

Bryan returning to win the Royal Rumble would be great but I still would love to see Bryan vs Angle and Cesaro vs Lesnar - Reigns just isn't good enough for me to be the guy to beat Lesnar but hopefully his in-ring work and mic work drastically improve.

 

[Bort]

So, the Rumble winner is a lock already, right? They better have him challenge Lesnar at WM, the story writes itself, and would have an even bigger impact than this year's story.