Speculation On Why Daniel Bryan Was Out Of Action

Reported earlier this week, Daniel Bryan was cleared to return to the ring and could possibly get a storyline as soon as next week. Bryan has been absent from all WWE live events after his WrestleMania 35 match where he lost the WWE Championship to Kofi Kingston.

Bryan was initially scheduled to take on Kingston at WWE Money in the Bank on May 19, but his closely guarded injury forced WWE to call an audible and move Owens into that match.

Although it wasn't confirmed, the speculation on this morning's Wrestling Observer Radio was Bryan did sustain a concussion as that seems to be the assumption within the company. With Bryan's past history with concussions and WWE not having a reason to hide a different injury, signs are pointing to that.

Dave Meltzer noted while getting a concussion is concerning going forward, it's a positive it took this long for Bryan to get one since his return in early 2018, as opposed to getting one the week after returning. Another plus was Bryan getting clearance in a matter of weeks.

Bryan has previously mentioned wanting more of a part-time schedule in WWE, which will obviously cut down on the wear and tear from the ring. Last July, Bryan spoke to Gorilla Position about this topic.

"I've been talking to WWE about maybe doing a lighter schedule because when we first starting talking about this, when I sent that, when Vince [McMahon] told me to send the letter to Dr. Maroon, he said for me to say, 'for a limited schedule', like 'revised concussion protocol for a limited schedule', so then, they clear me and I'm just on everything!" Bryan said. "I was just like, 'I wasn't expecting this!'

"Anywhere between 50 and 100 matches a year, to me, [is ideal] because one of the doctors that cleared me at Barrow Neurological [Institute], Dr. Javier Cárdenas talked to me. He said, I think when he cleared me before in 2015, he said, 'With all the stuff that [Bryan] had done on top of that, like, before I thought we dotted our Is and crossed our Ts, but the stuff you've done on your own, you've really scratched a big hole over the I and ripped, marked, through the T.' And so, he said, 'just so you know going forward, the less exposure you have, and this is for anybody whether you have a history of it or not, the healthier you're going to be.

"So I was thinking, 'Oh, I'll do 75 to 100 matches a year or whatever it is.' And now it looks to be way more than that, so if I were to change something, it'd be like I'd kind of like to do less, be away from home [less]. Like, for me, it's not about wrestling less. It's like I don't want to be away from home this much."