From beating God-king Triple H and Randy Orton and Batista for the title in one night, to being stuffed in a meaningless Intercontinental match with six other guys – Daniel Bryan has taken one of the more severe WrestleMania to WrestleMania plunges in recent memory. Most assume it’s just the usual pettiness and narrow-mindedness holding Bryan back, because that’s usually a solid bet when you’re dealing with WWE, but there might be something more to Bryan’s reduced push.
WWE doesn’t actually think Daniel Bryan is a B+ player. Who could at this point? No, word is WWE doesn’t want to invest heavily in Bryan because they’re still very concerned about his health. It hasn’t been well-publicized, but Bryan never got the second neck surgery (or possibly Tommy John elbow surgery) it was thought he needed to return strength to his arm. Instead Bryan did an experimental form of physiotherapy called Muscle Activation Techniques or MAT. Bryan swears MAT almost immediately returned strength to his arm, but WWE is afraid he hasn’t dealt with the underlying problems, and neck and arm issues could be a reoccurring problem until he goes in for a more permanent, surgical solution.
Bryan hasn’t helped his case by continuing to wrestle a reckless style since returning. Bryan has outright admitted to getting in trouble with management for taking a half-nelson suplex onto his head in a recent Smackdown match with Luke Harper. Here’s the unquestionably nasty spot…
I think we all enjoy Bryan’s against-the-grain attitude, but sometimes people want you to do things a certain way because they just want the best for you. In other words, there’s a fine line between being a maverick and being Kurt Angle. Be careful with those ladders, buddy.
