Daniel Bryan has provided another update on his quest to get back in the ring. Last week, he posted a message on social media asking, “Can WWE Clear Me Already?!!!” Now, he’s followed up with a video of him training and another declaration that he’s training for a return.
Bryan has been out of action for the better part of a year due to concussion symptoms. Some medically professionals have given him the go-ahead to wrestle, while WWE doctors have been reluctant to clear him.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAa2Y0NSVLo/
Speaking of Bryan, he’ll be replacing Seth Rollins at the upcoming World of Wheels auto show in Pittsburgh, PA on Friday, January 22nd. More info at this link.
Daniel Bryan remains determined to get back in the ring and is now pleading with WWE on social media to medically clear him. Bryan has been out of action for approximately 9 months as a result of lingering concussion symptoms. His own doctors gave him the go-ahead to wrestle, but WWE’s medical staff is reluctant to sign off on his return. This week’s reports that WWE is raiding talent from New Japan Pro Wrestling have fired up Bryan once again. He tweeted on Thursday:
Just last month, Bryan told the PopPpoken.com that he’d love to wrestle Shinsuke Nakamura.
“I’d love [WWE] to bring Shinsuke Nakamura over,” Bryan said. “I love Shinsuke and I’ve known him for ages. What I love about his style is that he incorporates facets of reality into his matches.”
– WWE posted the above video on their official YouTube channel, which shows highlights of his recent promotional tour of India.
– WWE also posted the following regarding WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and The Bella Twins appearing on ABC’s “Good Morning America” this coming Thursday, January 7th at 8am EST.
“This Thursday, WWE takes over ABC’s “Good Morning America” when WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and The Bella Twins join the hit morning show. Tune in to ABC during the 8 a.m. hour to see Reigns, Nikki and Brie join Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Lara Spencer and the entire GMA crew. Don’t miss the WWE takeover of ABC’s “Good Morning America” at 8 a.m. this Thursday.”
– Speaking of Reigns, the WWE Champion posted the following reaction on his official Twitter page to the announcement made by Vince McMahon on Monday’s RAW regarding Reigns defending his title in the 30-man over-the-top-rope Royal Rumble match at the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view on Sunday, January 24th.
WWE talent booking contracts have become almost commonplace online, thanks in large part to WWE’s own filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As a public company, all of World Wrestling Entertainment’s executive officers need to have their contracts released in SEC filings. Since WWE has multiple executive officers who also happen to perform for the company, that means that their talent contracts are all public and we see the current WWE contract whenever they re-sign. Older contracts have also come out in lawsuits over the years, as well, along with other internal pay documentation.
But one thing that I don’t recall seeing before is an official WWE termination letter. In one of the ongoing series of concussion-related lawsuits from wrestlers and their families represented by lawyer Konstantine Kyros, one was filed by WWE last week. Specifically, it’s the 2008 termination letter for Nelson Frazier Jr., then known as Big Daddy V, also known as Viscera and (King) Mabel. WWE outside counsel Jerry McDevitt filed a motion where one issue covered was Frazier’s place of residence, so he filed Frazier’s termination letter to show where he lived when the two parties ended their relationship. Here’s the full letter, minus personal information that I redacted:
There are a few key takeaways here beyond just the curiosity of seeing one of these:
This is a notice of his termination being effective three months later. It’s tricky to figure out precisely how that relates to the conventional wisdom that there’s a 90 day “non-compete” period, as what WWE allowed during that period has changed at times. Here, it’s pretty clear that there are still 90 days left that the wrestler is still under contract and there’s nothing about being allowed to work elsewhere. These days, wrestler can usually pick up non-televised indie bookings while still being paid his or her WWE guarantee for 90 days, which can be fairly lucrative. One unique example is Daniel Bryan, who was re-hired before the 90 days were up after his abrupt firing in 2010.
The wrestler being told to pay “particular attention” to the “promoter intellectual property” section of their contract is essentially telling them not to use their WWE names. In the case of Frazier, page 25 of his 2007 contractsays that the WWE intellectual property is Viscera, Vis, Big Vis, Mabel, M.O.M., Men on a Mission, Ministry of Darkness, Corporate Ministry, and The World’s Largest Love Machine.The previous page says his IP is just his real name.
Wrestlers must return “any tangible property” of WWE that they took possession of during the course of working for the company, “including, without limitation, costumes, accessories, inventions, and any title belts.” Since the wrestlers buy their own costumes, it’s hard t figure out what any of those could be other than the title belts.
Overall, though, there’s nothing too surprising here. It just helps demystify the inner workings of WWE a bit, and that’s always fun.
The fifth season of WWE’s “Total Divas” reality show is set to premiere on the E! network on Tuesday, January 19th at 9pm EST.
According to the official Total Divas mini-site at EOnline.com, the top two storylines being used to promote the upcoming fifth season of the show include the latest chapter in the marriage saga between John Cena and Nikki Bella, as well as possible trouble in paradise between newlyweds Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella.
“We can talk about marriage,” John says to Nikki in a preview clip circulating for the show.
“You’re my No. 1,” Brie Bella says to her husband Daniel Bryan in the preview.
“Clearly not,” he says to her in response.
Daniel Bryan was in Asia last week to promote WWE across the continent. In an interview with Yahoo, Bryan commented on WWE bringing back part-time wrestlers for WrestleMania season, and why he feels younger wrestlers should be getting that TV time.
Here’s what the former WWE World Heavyweight champion had to say:
“Some wrestlers have long careers and wrestle long into their 40s. Sometimes young wrestlers get left off cards like WrestleMania because of old guys coming back,” Bryan said. “In my opinion, if they had brought back guys like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage back when The Rock and Stone Cold were starting out, The Rock would have never become The Rock, and Stone Cold would have never become Stone Cold.
“At WrestleMania, people still wanna see The Undertaker. This is kind of a balancing act,” Bryan continued. “Although we are bringing back part-time wrestlers like Brock Lesnar and older wrestlers, I would like to see more young guys in higher positions in the card.”
On Saturday, The Straits Times out of Singapore published a new interview where Bryan talks more about the topic, noting that he and WWE are currently “working on a compromise” regarding his future. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On WWE’s recent viewership decline:
“You have to evolve with the way the sport is evolving. So if the fans are voicing more of their displeasure with certain things, then you need to take that into account to make it entertaining because you have to please your fan base. At the end of the day, when they’ve spent their money, they need to know they’ve gotten what they wanted.”
On his roller-coaster so far:
“I’ve worked harder than a lot of people but a lot of people who’ve worked harder than me haven’t had the success that I’ve had. At the end of the day, I’ll just boil it down to luck and being at the right place at the right time,”
On working on a compromise with WWE regarding his in-ring future:
“Because of my history with concussions, the WWE medical doctor wouldn’t clear me. We’re in the process of trying to figure out some compromise. They keep sending me to do more tests, brain MRIs, brain EGs and all my tests have come back great to the point where my brain is better than someone my age with no concussion.”
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan was in Singapore again yesterday for his ongoing promotional tour of Asia. It was the Singapore publication The New Paper where Bryan revealed the fact that if WWE doctors don’t clear him to return, despite the fact that other doctors have, his WWE career could very well be over.
On Thursday, Bryan spoke more about his status with PopSpoken.com and answered some fun questions such as who he would bring in for a match if he could pick anyone, who has given him his best WWE match in recent memory, his infamous 18-second WrestleMania match and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
– Bryan said he’s “passed every test” in order to return to action, but WWE doctors haven’t cleared him yet.
– He still suffers from partial blindness in his right eye due to a detached retina he suffered back in 2007. He also has a ruptured ear drum dating back to 2007 that would take a lot of time off to heal, if he were to get that fixed.
– Regarding today’s young wrestlers working a rough style to get noticed, Bryan said that’s just part of the business. If you’re not the type of guy that management sees as a star (he cited The Rock), then you have to work really really hard.
– Bryan named Sheamus as the opponent that gave him the best match in recent memory.
– When asked which wrestler from the independent circuit he’d like to face in a WWE ring, Bryan did not hesitate to name NJPW’s Shinsuke Nakamura.
“I wouldn’t call the Japanese promotions ‘indie,’ but I’d love to bring Shinsuke Nakamura over,” Bryan said. “I love Shinsuke and I’ve known him for ages. What I love about his style is that he incorporates facets of reality into his matches.”
As we reported on Wednesday evening, while in Asia doing promotional work former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan told The New Paper out of Singapore that he thinks his WWE career might be over as a result of his injuries. Bryan also spoke with PassThePopcorn.My out of Malaysia. Below are some of the highlights from that interview.
On whether or not he would change his in-ring style if he were ever to the ring:
“My wife would like me to! She’d like me to take fewer risks. But here’s the problem with that – I’m the underdog. I’m not six feet tall; I’m five foot eight and one hundred eighty five pounds, so I am going to get thrown around. I’ve been trying to come up with some ideas and stuff, but that’s the style of wrestling I enjoy doing. I like flying around but yeah, I’m going to have to do some things to limit the injuries I think.”
On WWE contacting him to offer him other roles in the company:
“They [WWE] asked me a bunch of stuff of what I’d like to do like announce or be a trainer at NXT. I’m sure at some point in my life I would, but right now it would be too soon.”
On advice for Seth Rollins and Cesaro:
“I would say just make sure to be healthy when you come back and don’t rush it. But man, Cesaro, I’ve known him for years and this is his first major injury. For a guy who’s been wrestling that long, that’s pretty incredible. Rollins had neck surgery when he was on the independents but other than that he’s been relatively injury free. He and Cesaro are the two guys who actually wrestled more matches than anybody in the WWE. I mean in 2013, the year before my neck surgery, I wrestled more matches than anybody on the roster by a long shot. I did 227 matches that year and that what happens when you’re one of the work horses and are out there doing all those matches, you’re bound to get injured.”
Unfortunately for Daniel Bryan fans, it looks like the “Yes! Era” could very well be over.
The New Paper out of Singapore recently interviewed Bryan while he was on his promotional tour in the area. During the interview, Bryan mentioned that his WWE career may be over. Below are some of the highlights.
On his wife Brie Bella:
“She’s beautiful and I look like this (laughs). There are certain frustrations that come with our job that can be hard to explain to people. So being there for somebody and to truly know and understand the frustrations is one of the things that have really brought us closer.”
On his WWE status and the injuries that have kept him from getting cleared by a WWE doctor:
“I think it could be the end of my career in WWE, but I don’t think it will be the end of my career. I could find another passion, but it would just be sad because this is what I have been most passionate about since I was five.”
Well-respected trainer Rudy Boy Gonzalez recently spoke with The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast about his time working with Shawn Michaels in the TWA promotion, training Daniel Bryan and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On working with Shawn Michaels as the TWA wrestling school was launched:
“The time period you are talking about was that he had “the attitude” and “was hard to work with” and he didn’t want to drop the belt and he had the fight with Bret Hart. But at the wrestling school, he was just another guy. All the stuff that I had heard about him, we weren’t actually buddies although we lived in the same town. Whenever I did stuff with WWF we would see each other in the hall and just say whats up. The first day of training we just talked and it was me, Ken Johnson and Jose Lothario and we just talked about what we wanted and our ideas were all pretty much the same. Not that there is anything wrong with what Jose or Ken wanted but Jose wanted more of the old school style of beating guys up and making them earn it. But we taught guys and treated them as young men.”
On Shawn Michaels’ perceived attitude in the late 90s and how he carried himself at the TWA school:
“Shawn never or not once did he ever come in there as the Heartbreak Kid, he came in there as just Coach Shawn. All the stuff you saw on TV never came in there. He never had an attitude and just trained with everyone with what he could do because his back was still injured from his surgery. He was just one of the guys and it was just great. I wish he still had the school so I could work with him and so we could just talk. That Shawn Michaels, the Heartbreak Kid guy never existed at the school.”
On training Bryan and his superstardom:
“You knew he was going to have a spot because Bryan was just “that guy” and just a nice guy. He did everything that was asked of him and was always on time, trained hard and did things without an excuse. He was always asking questions. He and Brian Kendrick became very good friends and were also very competitive so if by chance I would say to Spanky that was pretty good, then Bryan Danielson would work twice as hard to out due Brian Kendrick. But both of those guys you knew would be able to compete but to be very honest I never knew he (Danielson) would become THE guy in WWE and at that time it was Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Kane, The Godfather I never thought I could see RAW and say I can see Bryan Danielson doing anything like that. But watching him rise the way he has, I see him and I am proud of him, wish him the best with his health issues and I hope he gets over it. Everything he was getting, he deserves.”
On working with Bryan Danielson:
“Bryan Danielson’s first match was against me. Shawn had asked to put him in a show and see how he does. He didn’t have any gear and had wrestling shoes a pair of shorts and a muscle shirt. Shawn wanted us to go like ten minuets, so I told him to do what ever he wanted to do. I wanted him to call the match and lets see what he can do. I’m not ashamed to say this but two minuets into the match I was blown sky-high. He just took off and I didn’t want to stop him. When we went home, I beat him and I have an undefeated record against Bryan Danielson. When I came through the curtain and I guess my eyes were blood shot and Shawn asked me if I was okay and I said; Jesus Christ that kid is good.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated his official blog at JRsBarBQ.com with his thoughts on how WWE should handle the build to WrestleMania 32, some of the big stars they could bring in and more. Below are some of the highlights.
On the WWE title being ‘tepid’ heading into WrestleMania season:
“I can’t recall the WWE Title being more ‘tepid’ than it is right going into [WrestleMania season] for WWE. This is not an indictment on Sheamus who I have great respect for and love his work ethic but the title lost a great deal of luster after Seth Rollins suffered an untimely, major knee injury.”
On the two biggest stars WWE can bring in for WrestleMania 32:
“The two most viable stars that WWE could bring in for WM32 or so it seems might be Goldberg and Batista. Austin and HBK are adamant that their wrestling days are history, Hogan is still on the outs with the company plus he doesn’t need to wrestle a match with his back condition and Rock has movie commitments I’m told as does Ronda Rousey.
For those that think that Austin and HBK would do ‘one more match’ for the right money, please, just stop it.”
On Daniel Bryan awaiting doctor’s clearance:
“As Dave Meltzer and I discussed this week on The Ross Report Podcast, if Dr. Joe Maroon, WWE’s medical guru, doesn’t clear Daniel Bryan we don’t think it matters how many other doctor’s say that it’s OK for DB to return to the ring. If I was still in charge of WWE roster, I’d go strictly on what Dr. Maroon says.”
– NXT Champion Finn Balor is on the road with the main WWE roster for this weekend’s non-televised live events.
– Instead of shopping on Black Friday, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan is supporting International Buy Nothing Day. He posted a photo of someone holding a “Buy Nothing Day” sign on his official Instagram page today, accompanied by the following write-up:
“Today I’m participating Buy Nothing Day, an international protest against consumerism. And more than just this one day, my goal is to buy much less and to give/experience much more this holiday season. One of the most radical things we can do in today’s society is to buy nothing.”
– Speaking of Black Friday, coincidentally enough, Bryan’s wife — Brie Bella — is featured on the advertisement WWE has been pushing today to promote their Black Friday specials at WWE Shop. WWE tweeted the following:
Sean Waltman is no stranger to dealing with the size issue in the wrestling industry, particularly in WWE. The former nWo and D-X member recently spoke to WrestleTalk TV about Daniel Bryan’s recent issues with size in WWE.
“I went through a lot of the same things. It’s a personal thing. You can’t fault somebody for having perfect personal preference. What did it for Vince was a big guy with a great physique, clean cut. He’s had to let this thing go, but Vince hates tattoos.”
Waltman went on to use Bret Hart as an example of someone who by boxing and MMA standards would be considered a heavyweight, but in WWE, was one of the smaller champions in the history of the company.
“It kind of reminds me of Bret a little bit. Bret was always Vince’s standby guy. When he went with Lex Luger, that didn’t pan out. Part of it wasn’t Lex’s fault. When you put a guy in red, white and blue and put him on a bus and say ‘this is our guy!’ No it’s not! That always fell back on Bret. I would resent that, like I’m the second choice all the time. Good ol’ standy Bret will always be there. Kind of like Daniel, cause Daniel is smaller. They’re forced to listen to the people.”
– In the “holiday spirit” department, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, along with longtime top WWE Superstar and the star of the new FOX reality show “American Grit,” John Cena, posted the following Thanksgiving messages on Twitter today.
Today is the day to truly remember what we’re thankful for in life. Happy Thanksgiving to the WWE Universe.
– In keeping with the Thanksgiving theme, WWE.com is running a poll today asking fans which WWE Superstar they are the most thankful for. The options include Roman Reigns, John Cena, Dean Ambrose, Charlotte, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, The New Day, Dolph Ziggler, Paige, The Dudley Boyz, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, The Usos, Kane, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Ryback, Natalya and “Other.” Leading the pack with 17 percent is The Undertaker, followed by Roman Reigns (14%), Dean Ambrose (12%), John Cena (10%), Cesaro (7%) and The New Day (7%).
– SEScoops.com would like to wish everyone a healthy and happy Thanksgiving!
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan recently spoke with WrestlingINC.com during his promotional trip in India. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On if being one of the first “indy darlings” in WWE made things hard for him in the company initially:
At first, I think there were a lot of misconceptions about the guys who wrestled for a long time on the independents, like, “Oh, they can’t make it in the WWE, because it’s just a different… it’s a larger arena”. I would wrestle sometimes in front of as few as 15 people, but also sometimes in front of thousands of people on the independent scene, but that’s very different from wrestling in front of ten thousand people every single night. It’s a different audience; you didn’t see a lot of kids at the independent shows. There weren’t a lot of 5 year old kids coming to the independent shows. So you have to wrestle for those people too, and the thought process was that, somebody like me – I’m just an average size guy. That’s not what captivates the kids’ imaginations, right? When they see someone like John Cena, who literally looks like Superman; what am I going to do to capture those children’s imagination? And even when I was a kid, what captured my imagination? Jake “The Snake” Roberts, people with animals, people with fancy face paint, and all that kind of stuff.
“There was a lot of hesitation, as far as like, “Wait a second, how is this 5’8″, 190 pound average person going to connect with these people”, in what they call as “superstars”? We’re called superstars, so, “How is he going to connect?” And that was the biggest question mark. They had a lot of doubts about me for a long time, but the real benchmark, for if somebody can connect with the WWE Universe, is if they connect. So it doesn’t matter if you’re big or small or whatever; if I go out there and the fans react, well then I’ve done my job.”
On other independent stars such as Kevin Owens and Finn Balor doing well in WWE:
“I think it’s a natural evolution of what happens. Because, RAW right now is three hours long, right? So what happens is, before, when RAW was two hours, you didn’t see many long matches, and there were separate brands. There was RAW and Smackdown!, and you didn’t see people on both shows very often. Well now, we have a three hour RAW and two hour Smackdown!, so guys are wrestling long matches on both shows. And who’re going to stand out on that kind of platform? Guys who know how to be different in the ring, who can go out there and wrestle a 10, 12, 15 minute match twice a week, and not have the fans get bored by it.
“Because realistically, if you take wrestlers from the previous generations, and if they had wrestled as much on television as we have, they would be over exposed. But then, you won’t like them as much. That’s one of the biggest battles our generation faces; the previous generations’ battle was getting exposure, trying to get exposure. Now our battle is over exposure, and those who can handle over exposure the best are the ones who are popular, and incidentally, people who handle over exposure are the ones who’ve spent years wrestling in all the different places. So they know how to interact with people in different settings, and that kind of stuff. So I think it is natural that the independent stars are the people coming up and doing very well.”
On Kane’s longevity in WWE:
“So a lot of it is, he is very smart. He knows what he is doing. But also, you have to, and this is for all of us. The same applies for my popularity, for Steve Austin’s popularity… a lot of it depends on luck. If he gets a bad injury, at a certain time in his career when he is getting a big opportunity, all of a sudden, maybe his career in the WWE isn’t as long. If one thing happens this way instead of that way, he may not still be in the WWE. But, that said, he’s got really lucky breaks, and he’s good enough to capitalize on those breaks, and that’s why he has been here for so long. He’s smart, he’s really good at what he does, and for the most part he’s entertaining.”
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan spoke with The Statesman in India while in the country doing some promotional work for WWE. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On WWE stars facing potential overexposure:
“Now, what we see is a three hour RAW and two hour SmackDown. While the previous generation’s struggle was getting exposure, we battle overexposure. So, the ones who handle overexposure the best and manage to not get the fans bored are the ones who end up wrestling for years. They know how to interact with people in all the settings, so it’s just natural that they become popular.”
On working with Kane:
“Literally, working with Kane was one of the finest parts of my career. It took me to the next level. People couldn’t wait to see us together on TV because we were really entertaining. He has wrestled for a while and he has been wrestling for a long time, with all the great guys, including The Rock, Steve Austin, so it was a great learning experience. Kane is a wonderful human being. He is a pleasure to be around.”
On the frustration of being on the sidelines right now:
“My wife is a wrestler, so she is on the ring, and I am just sitting, it is difficult… when I am upset, when I am angry, wrestling was always there as an outlet.. I could go, drop and kick… you can call your mom and you can call your sister… but sometimes you just need a physical outlet… I don’t know how to cope with this situation.”
Daniel Bryan spoke to NDTV this past week while in India to announce WWE’s live tour of the country in January 2016. Among the topics discussed, Bryan gave his take on fans who call wrestling “fake” and how he views the entertainment aspect of the sport:
“You know how in art, there’s this term, postmodernism, and it’s basically, art for entertainment? I think we’ve become a little like that. I mean, everyone starts to knowingly say, ‘it’s fake, it’s fake,’ and then the word ‘entertainment’ comes into our name, and I think that the audience doesn’t react the same way – you see something amazing, and you go, ‘yeah, that’s just a part of the script’.”
“But of course it’s also real, it’s really difficult and you can get badly injured. That’s why we’ve got to keep telling people, ‘don’t try this at home,’ because it is entertainment, but it’s also real. It’s difficult, and it’s painful.”
– According to the L.A. Times, WWE Hall Of Famer Bret Hart is selling his home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The asking price for the property is $705,000, which is down from the $725,000 they were asking for back in May. Hart originally paid $675,000 back in 2004 for the home, which is 2,064 square feet of living space, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a wet bar, a center-island kitchen and a personal office.
– Former WWE star Tyler Reks turned 37 today. In other wrestling birthdays today, WWE Hall Of Famer Bobby “The Brain” Heenan turned 71 years old.
– A new poll on WWE.com asks fans which Superstar would make the best MMA fighter. Topping the list is Roman Reigns with 1,000 votes, followed by Seth Rollins, Cesaro, Kofi Kingston, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Brian, Kevin Owens, King Barrett, Neville and Rusev. You can vote on the poll at WWE.com.
There is still no confirmation from within WWE regarding who is scheduled to answer John Cena’s “U.S. Open Challenge” at tonight’s WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, however the strongest rumor making the rounds is that Samoa Joe will be the man to challenge Cena.
At last word, Joe was in Sacramento, California for the NXT events at the Aftershock tour, but it would only take a quick flight to get him to L.A. for Hell In A Cell if necessary.
Tyler Breeze is another rumor, as it would set up Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler for the U.S. title, which has been talked about.
With that being said, multiple WWE sources have claimed James Storm, Tyler Breeze and Samoa Joe will not be the ones to answer Cena’s “U.S. Open Challenge” this evening.
Another rumor is Sheamus, as Sheamus vs. Cena is currently being advertised for the WWE live events that Cena is booked to appear on after returning from his scheduled hiatus.
Finally, there has been talk going around that Daniel Bryan could be the man to answer the challenge, as he is rumored to be in Los Angeles today, and is rumored to be officially cleared to return to the ring.
Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com later this evening for WWE Hell In A Cell live coverage.
If you miss Daniel Bryan, then here’s a brand new 25 minutes of him for you to watch. He’s in his element…well, the one that isn’t pro wrestling. As many fans are aware of, one of Bryan’s biggest passions is the environment, with a goal of being able to be fully self-sustainable.
Along with his wife Brie Bella in their alter-egos of Bryan and Brianna Danielson, they talk with “The Vegan Athlete” Jake Mace about desert gardening in the video embedded above. Being that he’s been out of action for a while but not necessarily injured, he’s able to remain active and has been building up a garden behind his and Brianna’s house. Being that they live in Phoenix, Arizona, this is easier said than done.
In the video, Bryan talks about going to Mace’s tour of his house nearby, where he has a gigantic garden outside. So being that he grew up gardening in the much more forgiving climate, Mace was a good starting point for learning how to get a garden going in the desert. They talk about growing cherry trees, kale, and all sorts of other good stuff. It’s actually pretty interesting, so check it out.
Bryan recently spoke with Meghan Sullivan of IGN.com to promote WWE 2K16 and of course was asked about his health. Bryan says he had a concussion back in April and WWE is hyper-sensitive about concussions right now. He got medically cleared by a neurologist who specializes in concussions, but WWE’s Dr. Joseph Maroon wasn’t convinced he should be wrestling.
“One neurologist who specializes in concussions — who was the neurologist for the Super Bowl last year — cleared me with no limitations. All my testing came back excellent,” he said. “But the WWE’s medical doctor [Joe Maroon] is sceptical, because of my history of concussions and that sort of thing. So they will not clear me.”
“They’re going to send me to a third doctor at some point in the near future and that doctor will decide my fate.”
As badly as he wants to get back in the ring, Bryan said this third doctor’s appointment will probably be the deciding factor in whether or not he has to retire. If the third doctor advises against him wrestling again, he will retire.
“The WWE doctor Joe Maroon [is] amazing and highly respected in the concussion field, and if they send me to a third neurologist who’s also highly respected in the concussion field and they say literally no…well, then is it really smart to go against two doctors? I get all fired up…and then I’m like, maybe that’s not the best thing for me and my family going forward.”
In the event that his days as an active competitor are over, Bryan says he’s open to working with WWE in a non-wrestling capacity, possibly announcing or as a trainer.
WWE United States Champion John Cena will be taking extended time off soon. The hiatus, which begins after Hell in a Cell later this month, is due to ‘personal reasons,’ according to f4wonline.com.
Cena is no longer advertised for the post-Hell In a Cell RAW from San Diego (10/26), that weekend’s WWE live events or the following week’s RAW from Denver (11/2).
The latest update is that John Cena has pulled from WWE’s 10-day Europe tour in early November.
He also won’t be at WWE’s RAW tapings on November 16th or November 23rd.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog at JRsBarBQ.com with his thoughts on WWE’s declining television ratings. Ross says it’s going to take more than top stars returning for WWE to right the ship and offers some straight-forward, back to basics advice to his former company.
“Amazing that some people think that Daniel Bryan’s return can cure all WWE TV ratings ills alone. Not true. Bryan should not be considered for a return until he is completely, 100% medically cleared of which WWE will insure.
Ratings go down just like live event tickets sales and for the same reasons….the paying customers are not getting what they feel that they want. Promoters get market research daily. Those that listen and compromise what they they may be feeling is the right way to go generally are rewarded with increased profitability. Those that think that the fans don’t know what the fans really want, generally continue to downtrend. It’s simple marketing 101.
Listen to the paying customers and allow them to guide you to what some refer to the Promised Land or, better said, the land of profitability.”
He added that any wrestling company looking to turn things around needs to fully commit to a small group of talent, push them as main event stars for several months getting off course.
Other topics discussed include The Rock’s partnership with Ford Motors and his one-man shows in Dallas over WrestleMania 32 weekend.
