WWE: DANIEL BRYAN RETIRES -- Thank you, Bryan

[The Shockmaster]

Short but satisfying career. He's definitely one of my favourite wrestlers ever.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Except he doesn't get out of his contract by doing this. The contract would continue to run or be frozen. The only way to do that would be to take them to court.

He's retiring.

If he specifies retiring from WWE and not wrestling that would raise my eyebrow, but maybe this testing made DB rethink things, I just don't believe he's done, since he's been so staunch about continuing to wrestle

 

[Morozov]

Short but satisfying career. He's definitely one of my favourite wrestlers ever.

His time in WWE was short but his career wasn't.

 

[Kimi]

Here's a bit from Meltzer on this testing from before. The Las Vegas reference is where the concussion conference that he went to was where all this stuff was demoed and explained to him.

Inside MMA had a very important report on UFC fighter Al Iaquinta, head trauma and brain testing. Iaquinta noted that he took a lot of punishment in his controversial win over Jorge Masvidal on April 4. He hasn’t fought since more due to knee problems than anything else, but after he won, and the fans booed, he went off on the fans in his post-match interview. He said that wasn’t him and recognized he may have suffered head trauma. However, the symptoms cleared and he was ready to go back and spar. He was cleared by doctors. However, Iaquinta is training at the Weidman/Longo gym which is one of the first gyms to have the new machines by Evoke Neuroscience which we talked about after I saw a demonstration of them in Las Vegas. While these are new, and not peer reviewed at this point, they hook up a scanning device that can detect different parts of the brain as well as reaction time. Dr. James Thompson, one of the key people behind this, noted that when you have an injury to a part of the brain, the healthy parts of the brain overcompensate and in time you will feel fine, and you will pass the current testing, but the injury will not have recovered and for brain injuries to recover, they need time, as in no sparring or contact. Hopefully in time, and whether this is even possible, who knows, but there may be medicines developed for different specific parts of the brain that are injured. But besides MMA gyms and UFC, as well as boxing, kickboxing and football, WWE needs to also look into this new technology because it appears to be far more advanced than the testing in place.

I keep thinking of Bryan Danielson, where there is a debate regarding whether he should be cleared and this would give a better reading than anything else. The key, with Danielson, is that he had noted that his reactions and brain were tested and his cognitive ability is ahead of the norm for his age. That’s a key thing, because I was specifically told that really smart people because of their intelligence can more easily pass the current methods of testing because the healthy parts of their brain can overcompensate. Now, this is not a doctor’s evaluation, obviously, but on the New Year’s Dash show, Kevin Kelly mentioned in a discussion that many years ago, all the ROH talent underwent IQ testing. Danielson finished the highest of anyone on the roster (he also noted that Nigel McGuinness was second, which is probably no surprise if you’ve ever talked with him) and Mark Briscoe was third, which probably is a surprise if you consider his gimmick. But it’s also been nine months since Danielson’s latest concussion, which was his tenth documented concussion and there are likely several others undocumented.

 

[Cubs2024wildcard]

Hate to say I was right the whole time, but.....

From what Meltzer stated the new test examined his entire brain where as the old tests could provide false negatives/ positives as certain parts of the brain could adapt and compensate for areas that had damage.

Think about that. DB failed the new test. He has a certain amount of brain damage already. DB retiring now so he can have a long productive life is the best thing. WWE has been doing nothing but looking out for his long term health and are still paying him rather well.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

We are in concussion central here and I work in the healthcare industry. There aren't like 300 tests you can take. Baseline, neuropsych, and CTs are pretty much commonplay for what his issues have been.

So clarification on what happened would be interesting unless DB was just way out of line with his comments on his own health.

He passed tests from two other doctors but he probably failed tests from a third doctor or WWE's doctor again and he's done.

That, or he's retiring to get out of his contract and go wrestle elsewhere, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

In the WWE since 2010, active until early 2015, and the only thing he didn't do was win the Rumble.

- World Hvt. Champion
- WWE champion
- WWE World champion
- US champion
- IC champion
- Tag champion
- Money in the Bank
- Wrestlemania main event with arguably the greatest Wrestlemania by a single performer in history
- Walked into every WM as a champion

I hate seeing them break character on TV, but Bryan deserves to be announced as a Hall of Fame entrant/headliner tonight, and it should be by one of the McMahons or Hunter.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Here's a bit from Meltzer on this testing from before. The Las Vegas reference is where the concussion conference that he went to was where all this stuff was demoed and explained to him.

This seems to be what has been going on for the past year or so. He probably believed he was fine but actually got tested on one of those machines and it came back that he's done.

I'm sad now.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I have to be a cynic about this. Big Dave reported yesterday DB tried to get his release so he could wrestle elsewhere and was denied, and now this.

I don't buy that Vince or WWE is trying to protect Bryan's health, and I'm not sure I buy that he either lied about his early tests or somehow got bad test result just recently. The science on concussions is fuzzy, and its not impossible something happened to change his opinion on his health, but I'm not sure that is what happened here.

Either this is a work (I don't think it is), or this is DB stuck in never never land and Vince getting exactly what he wants. Getting DB out of his ring for good because he never liked him and never liked his success. Vince has proven over the years that he is vindictive to the point that it goes against sound business.

 

[Karma]

This sucks

 

[M.C.G. 31]

I have to be a cynic about this. Big Dave reported yesterday DB tried to get his release so he could wrestle elsewhere and was denied, and now this.

I don't buy that Vince or WWE is trying to protect Bryan's health, and I'm not sure I buy that he either lied about his early tests or somehow got bad test result just recently.

Either this is a work (I don't think it is), or this is DB stuck in never never land and Vince getting exactly what he wants. Getting DB out of his ring for good because he never liked him and never liked his success. Vince has proven over the years that he is vindictive to the point that it goes against sound business.

If they just got the results of his latest tests from the system Dave spoke about, it makes complete sense. Considering the timing, they probably just found out today.

 

[Emperoreddy]

If they just got the results of his latest tests from the system Dave spoke about, it makes complete sense. Considering the timing, they probably just found out today.

But they announced him on RAW yesterday, so this was planned at the latest yesterday as it went along with that weird Tide commercial he did and Dave saying he finally tried to put in his notice and leave the company.

The timing if it all literally happened today is "to perfect" and in this business I don't see how it works out like that (Raw happens to be in Seattle and he gets this one test back same day). I have built in distrust with this company for good reason, so I'm just not sure everything is on the level here.

The results are the same. DB will not wrestle in WWE again, but I just think something fouler is going on.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

You guys need to stop saying he failed the new tests as a matter of fact when at this very moment that is just speculation that he failed the new test, hence his decision to retire.

Meltzer basically said a test failure could be the reason he's retiring. I've yet to see the failed tests confirmed by anybody.

 

[Cubs2024wildcard]

I have to be a cynic about this. Big Dave reported yesterday DB tried to get his release so he could wrestle elsewhere and was denied, and now this.

Meltzer said that over a week ago.

 

[Emperoreddy]

You guys need to stop saying he failed the new tests as a matter of fact when at this very moment that is just speculation that he failed the new test, hence his decision to retire.

Meltzer basically said a test failure could be the reason he's retiring. I've yet to see the failed tests confirmed by anybody.

Everything I've read is Dave is speculating. Not out of thin air as they are fair educated guesses, but nothing confirmed.

 

[Cubs2024wildcard]

But they announced him on RAW yesterday, so this was planned at the latest yesterday as it went along with that weird Tide commercial he did and Dave saying he finally tried to put in his notice and leave the company.

The timing if it all literally happened today is "to perfect" and in this business I don't see how it works out like that (Raw happens to be in Seattle and he gets this one test back same day). I have built in distrust with this company for good reason, so I'm just not sure everything is on the level here.

The results are the same. DB will not wrestle in WWE again, but I just think something fouler is going on.

They had the results on the 28th of january.

 

[Mitchy]

Absolutely horrendous news. My favourite now retiring. Please be a work!

 

[Emperoreddy]

LOL Coach isn't really a guy I believe when he says this isn't a work, but even still I don't think this is a work either.

Not sure if the reasons are legit, but either way he is retiring from in ring competition for this company at minimum.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

Coach killing kayfabe

To be clear: it obviously could be that he failed the new tests and chose to retire. I just also think it's quite possible that he is fine and simply figured he'd never get cleared by WWE so he decided to retire as a worker so he could finish out his contract in a non-wrestling role so he can sign elsewhere when he is done and return to the ring.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

I don't think this is a work, and he wouldn't be able to carry over his talent contract into another role. He'd either accept a new contract with a new role or they'd continue to freeze his contract. Simple as that.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

I don't think this is a work, and he wouldn't be able to carry over his talent contract into another role. He'd either accept a new contract with a new role or they'd continue to freeze his contract. Simple as that.

It's obviously not a work. They are advertising it because it will do insane ratings. I don't see why he would need a new contract to be a commentator or some other non-wrestling on screen character. Did Mick Foley get a different contract when he became commissioner? Makes no sense. And I don't see how it'd be legal to "freeze" his contract indefinitely and effectively turn him into an indentured servant. There are laws against **** like that.

 

[RockLobster]

Hate to say I was right the whole time, but.....

So don't. Plain and simple.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I don't think this is a work, and he wouldn't be able to carry over his talent contract into another role. He'd either accept a new contract with a new role or they'd continue to freeze his contract. Simple as that.

The whole freezing his contract thing could be taken to court and he would win in a second. Whether Bryan is the kind of guy that would want to do that I don't know. There is a ton of speculating going on right now and nobody actually knows what has happened.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

So don't. Plain and simple.

I don't understand how this news makes it impossible that Vince simply didn't care to clear him anyway.

 

[RockLobster]

Here's a bit from Meltzer on this testing from before. The Las Vegas reference is where the concussion conference that he went to was where all this stuff was demoed and explained to him.

I find it interesting that this new test doesn't appear to be "Peer Reviewed", as Dave puts it.

 

[KesselBuiltMyHotrod]

I hope he makes Roman look strong before he goes.