The injury epidemic in WWE has put the company on red alert as they head to a WrestleMania where they’re trying to pack 100,000 people into Dallas’ Jerry World. They need a marquee match that they’ve been unable to provide due to the fact that their top guys keep getting knocked out due to fluke injuries. WWE needed someone like Daniel Bryan to return for WrestleMania. Imagine Daniel Bryan coming back to RAW on Monday night to deliver his retirement speech, the lights going out and Undertaker coming out saying they should both have one more match at ‘Mania. Boom. WWE has a main-event.
Instead of letting Bryan have one more match, WWE did everything it could to keep him out of the ring for the better part of the last two years, until he relented and finally retired. According to Dave Meltzer, WWE put a hold on Bryan’s contract, keeping him away from wrestling for the better part of the last two years. The contract hold even stopped him from putting his notice in so he would go and risk his life for a different company. WWE did all of this to keep Bryan out of the ring despite the fact he’d been cleared by multiple doctors. The company’s concern over CTE, Bryan’s livelihood and his overall health (and, let’s not be naive — bad publicity) forced them to stay as diligent as possible to ensure that Bryan didn’t further endanger himself. In the end — after more extensive brain scans — Bryan was forced to retire.
As sad as Bryan’s retirement is — his career cut short at the height of his popularity — we can take solace in the fact that he has a chance, now, to live a full life. And a life that’s much healthier than if he were allowed to take any more bumps. The decision to make Daniel Bryan stay away from wrestling effectively saved his life.
As I listened to Daniel Bryan’s speech, I couldn’t help but think about how he was saved from potentially becoming another Chris Benoit. And that if he were in the NFL, he probably would still be taking hits to the head. The NFL Concussion Protocol is an amorphous cloud of ambiguity where we’re not quite sure who gets cleared and exactly how thorough the tests are. But I do know that Wes Welker was allowed to play even after he needed to wear a helmet that made him look like Uatu. I do know that I saw Case Keenum stumble around and be allowed to finish a game. And I’ve seen a history of the NFL trying as hard as possible to deny that CTE even exists.
I just can’t help but think that if Peyton Manning were in the same physical state as Daniel Bryan, then he would still be playing in the Super Bowl, taking hits and damaging his brain. Because for as much as we can criticize WWE for how it’s treated its talent (and I think them letting Bryan continue to do the flying headbutt after his initial injuries was careless on many levels), the company is light years ahead of the NFL when it comes to CTE consideration.
In addition to forcing Daniel Bryan out of wrestling for his health, WWE refused to allow Christian to return to the ring after too many concussions, and prevented Mick Foley’s return to wrestling for the same reason. Of course, WWE had a high-profile CTE-related tragedy that was also the company’s worst PR nightmare ever. So, I understand that the fear of a repeat would push them to make sure their guys are safer. But the NFL definitely had an active player in Jovan Belcher murder his girlfriend, drive to the team’s practice facility and commit suicide. The story threatened an NFL regular season game as the Chiefs were offered a chance to forego the game because they were mourning.
The problem is, the NFL controls so much of the narrative that they can bury stories basically whenever they want. WWE doesn’t have that leverage. So, they have even more incentive to make sure their wrestlers are kept as safe as humanly possible. WWE is in a delicate spot right now because so many of the guys who are in their primes and top spots in the company wrestled in an era of unprotected chair shots, toughing out concussions and head trauma. The “indie” guys from Daniel Bryan’s era all wrestled matches just as dangerous and are going to be on alert for their long-term health. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more veterans have to end their careers earlier than anticipated because of WWE’s stricter policy on CTE. And it’ll be for their own good.
When I think back on Daniel Bryan’s retirement speech and listen to his comments about his seizures and medical condition, I can’t feel the selfish desire to see him wrestle anymore. Instead, I’m just happy he’s alive and hopefully caught his condition in time enough for him to be a family man, and live a fulfilling rest of his life. And I also shudder to think about how that life would have turned out under Roger Goodell’s watch.
