WWE: DANIEL BRYAN RETIRES -- Thank you, Bryan

[Fish on The Sand]

Absolutely the case. The pro wrestling consumer demands authenticity these days. It's why they reject the Roman Reigns of the worlds, but get behind guys like Sami Zayn, Finn Balor and Kevin Owens. Ditto Enzo and Cass. Guys who are likable, believable personalities rather than over the top characters.

Balor clearly does not fit that description.

 

[Del Preston]

Why is this the first time I'm seeing this: https://streamable.com/knjw

Superstar Search on The JBL & Cole Show. The Dazzler owned.

 

[Morozov]

They literally had no choice but to push Punk and Bryan, and they still messed them up. Rollins has been the only one they've pushed that they haven't "had to". So really Rollins is the anomaly here because the fans didn't hijack to have him pushed or anything.

And again, it's not that they're the only guys they push, it's the only guys they fully believe in. Again, with Rollins being the anomaly in the situation, WWE hardly put all their eggs into Bryan or Punk. They actually held them back instead of pushing them more. I don't think that can be argued.

And what was their reasoning? Because of their size? Or was it because they couldn't sell merchandise? We know the reason. So to say WWE has really changed their stance isn't really true. Rollins is a superior talent to almost everyone on the roster.. And again, Owens is a completely different monster. There's very few who guys who are THAT good of a heel and get cheered still. You hear a FIGHT OWENS FIGHT or something like that every week. There's no stopping Owens.

I'm not moving the goal posts. We were talking about them recruiting people from the Indy's, regardless of size. But usually the Indy's don't really have the biggest guys either. So the guys WWE poaches are generally guys without size, because WWE wants the guys with size. Their recruiting hasn't really changed at all, unless it comes to filling their roster with actual talent because they can't create some themselves.

Did they have no choice but to give Punk one of the longest title reigns in history? pretty sure they had a choice about that.

Did they have a choice about putting the belt on Rollins for so long? pretty sure they had a choice about that.

Again, they gave Punk one of the longest title reigns ever.

We know the reason? do we? just like so many on here thought they knew the reason that Bryan was being held back lol.

I was talking about you saying nothing has changed, you only get pushed if you have the look. Proof says that isn't actually the case.

Their recruiting hasn't changed, thus why a few years ago A Double was too old for Tough Enough, now he's on NXT. Their recruiting hasn't changed, thus why they look at someone like James Storm or Joe from TNA. Thus why they take AJ and present him as AJ. Again, things haven't changed as much as some would like, but they have changed. You can try to say they have "no choice" about that, but that simply isn't actually reality. WWE has complete choice over who they decide to employ. They could stick to just looking for athletes and body builders if they wanted to, they don't have a gun to their head forcing them to pick up these indy talents lol.

You said they only push guys who have the look. That isn't true. Proof is in the pudding. In fact guys who get pushed just on look are a pretty clear minority. How many guys is that applicable to? Ryback, Roman, Strowman?

Consider who the champions have been over the years, how many people in the past 10-15 years would that even apply to? Roman? Batista? even then Batista actually showed some awesome personality on his heel run. Who else? Show was probably champion sometime in the past 15 years. That's about it.

 

[Loosie]

I get what Angle is trying to say...but ummm....might not be the best choice of a comparable.

 

[Kimi]

Benoit should never be forgotten. Especially not now.

 

[Serac]

Really wish we could have gotten some more Bryan-Rollins matches

Letting both of them let loose in a ppv match had potential to be absolutely great

 

[Loosie]

Benoit should never be forgotten. Especially not now.

No he shouldn't be forgotten, but given the situation still not the greatest person to be compared to.

 

[ColePens]

Exactly. Even with Edge, who was my favourite from the day he walked in as the "You Think You Know Me" dude in the rafters, never evoked a serious reaction other than "damn, that sucks." Next Monday, life went on.

This guy was just the embodiment of a lot of peoples daily struggles... both in and out of character. I remember during the Occupy Raw bit how visceral it felt - like this was a guy so similar to you, and people were standing behind him because they believed in him. You could believe in him, because you honestly believed he'd believe in you the same way. It's a level of catharsis that you don't find in wrestling due to it's fictional nature.

Daniel Bryan was believable as being a guy named Daniel Bryan who wouldn't stop fighting and was truly passionate about what he did.

The Undertaker is not an undead mortician, he's Mark Calloway who loves bikes and saving pit bulls. Bret "The Hitman" Hart didn't walk around telling people at the grocery store that he was the "Excellence of Execution"... he was a guy named Bret Hart who was a pretty chill dude. The Rock isn't a bombastic blowhard who screams "It doesn't matter what your name is!" when a waitress introduces herself and tells him she'll be serving him at a steakhouse... he's Dwayne Johnson, and a super cool, chill, and inspirational guy.

Daniel Bryan was Bryan Danielson and Bryan Danielson was Daniel Bryan. And that's what made him different.

Really well said. Still wishing this was a dream.

 

[UnrealMachine]

I was unaware of any of this until I watched RAW yesterday. Although his WWE career was relatively short, we were able to see him at his peak with no downside. He accomplished a hell of a lot in a short timespan. His time with AJ and the love triangle with them and CM Punk was my favorite storyline. Thanks for the memories.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

One of my favorite backstage segments with DB.

 

[TribalPhoenix]

Balor clearly does not fit that description.

He does and he doesn't. Nobody buys the demon thing like he's an actual demon, and the fact he comes out to wrestle without the body makeup and highly theatric entrance shows he's more of just a guy.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

 

[Emperoreddy]

UGh the fact we don't get this match ever now sucks hard.

 

[GarbageGoal]

Didn't get Bryan/Itami either.

 

[Kimi]

At least we still have the chance of getting Kofi vs Cena /hope.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Didn't get Bryan/Itami either.

Among many others including DB/KO, DB/Zayn, DB/Balor, DB/Styles, DB/Brock, and a real DB/Seth program or a real DB/DZ and DB/Ambrose program. Then the completely outlandish DB/Angle program that Angle wanted. So many quality people to work with for a program that won't happen. Well, we got a DB/DZ program early in their runs but today would've been so much different.

 

[KesselBuiltMyHotrod]

Daniel Bryan revealed that the latest tests revealed swelling and a lesion on the brain that causes seizures. Bryan then revealed that he's been dealing with post-concussion seizures recently that he's kept hidden for a long time, and before these final tests, he had no idea why he was getting the seizures.

I was always of the opinion that Bryan should retire given all the concussions, no matter what cognitive tests said, because of how little we know about their long-term effects. But hearing this it's crazy to think he was hiding things and still trying to get medically cleared to wrestle. Wrestlers are crazy. I'm glad he came around to the right decision.

 

[Del Preston]

Daniel Bryan revealed that the latest tests revealed swelling and a lesion on the brain that causes seizures. Bryan then revealed that he's been dealing with post-concussion seizures recently that he's kept hidden for a long time, and before these final tests, he had no idea why he was getting the seizures.

A post on r/squaredcircle suggests Bryan suffered a seizure during the April 2nd, 2015 episode of SmackDown (also the match Meltzer reported Bryan got concussed). At 2:20 his body starts twitching and Sheamus has trouble picking him up before just rolling back into the ring to end the match:



Perhaps Bryan was selling. Pretty disturbing to watch if it was a seizure.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

If it was a seizure, there would be no way they would have let Sheamus touch him much less grab him, pick him up, and drop him like he did. And if it was a seizure, they would've cut him off from the ring immediately which they didn't do since they let him go on the overseas tour soon after that taping.

 

[Blitzkrug]

That's disturbing.

Meltzer said it's a sell and i usually agree with him but...that does not look like a sell. The leg looks like it almost spasms.

Though that being said, seizures tend to last longer than that. I've seen one too many and can confirm that so maybe he's right.

Edit: That bullhammer doesn't even look like it connects and Bryan hits the ground before it does. Would explain why Barrets hand isn't bloody after hitting him.

 

[Morozov]

I would encourage all of those ruing this who didn't watch him pre WWE to make a point of going and finding some of his work before then. There's a wealth of awesome stuff to watch, celebrate him by checking some of it out.

 

[Jussi]

 

[M.C.G. 31]

A post on r/squaredcircle suggests Bryan suffered a seizure during the April 2nd, 2015 episode of SmackDown (also the match Meltzer reported Bryan got concussed). At 2:20 his body starts twitching and Sheamus has trouble picking him up before just rolling back into the ring to end the match:



Perhaps Bryan was selling. Pretty disturbing to watch if it was a seizure.

IIRC, that wasn't the planned finish for the match.

 

[The Lunatic Fridge]

You can tell very clearly it wasn't the intended finish. Sheamus goes to pick him up not once but twice and sees bryan is not aware/concious at all and just goes for the count out win (which was the right move)

I've unfortunately seen/heard about way too many seizures in my life and bryan's body movement sure suggests it was one but i'm not a Dr.Quack MD so i won't say i'm 100% certain.

 

[GKJ]

A post on r/squaredcircle suggests Bryan suffered a seizure during the April 2nd, 2015 episode of SmackDown (also the match Meltzer reported Bryan got concussed). At 2:20 his body starts twitching and Sheamus has trouble picking him up before just rolling back into the ring to end the match:



Perhaps Bryan was selling. Pretty disturbing to watch if it was a seizure.

If it was a seizure, there would be no way they would have let Sheamus touch him much less grab him, pick him up, and drop him like he did. And if it was a seizure, they would've cut him off from the ring immediately which they didn't do since they let him go on the overseas tour soon after that taping.

IIRC, that wasn't the planned finish for the match.

Sheamus maybe thought he was selling, and figured out that he wasn't after he dropped him. I can't imagine he would do that if he knew he was injured. And then Barrett jocularly (but not really) admits that he might have hit him a little too hard, which is really strange to say even for a heel. To me that may say that he's trying to tell the production that he is actually hurt.