Daniel Bryan had neck surgery which resulted in him being stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Then it was revealed that he had an arm injury as well. which could need major Tommy John surgery. Bryan’s back is reportedly feeling ok, but he has “almost no strength” in his right arm, which is obviously problematic.
Bryan was told he needed neck surgery last year in 2013, so it was never a question of “if” but a question of “when”. He chose to postpone the surgery for as long as possible, and he was getting over huge in WWE and was in line for a main event push. Despite being told to tone down his style, he continued doing the missile dropkicks and diving head-butts, which are the worst for wear and tear on his neck. After his huge WWE World Title win at Wrestlemania 30, the neck got too injured to push the surgery back any further.
Originally, Bryan was to undergo surgery on August 19. The surgery on his right arm will be near his elbow as they believe there’s a nerve issue there which isn’t allowing the arm to regain strength. The decision was made to do some additional testing and see if the surgery could be avoided. The surgery was postponed pending results of the test. Bryan is frustrated with the delay because he is eager to return to the ring. The rehab time for him is going to be about three months, so if the surgery was in August, he could expect to be back in the ring by the end of the year, possibly in November.
But with the delay in surgery, the timetable is pushed back all around. If the surgery is postponed until September it could be 2015 before Bryan would return. Bryan currently gets two different physical therapy sessions, as well as gets acupuncture treatment and goes to an Active Release Technique class.
