American Dragon Injury Update

News

In an update on the earlier story that Bryan Danielson suffered an eye injury during his Saturday Ring of Honor title match, the American Dragon underwent eye surgery yesterday for a detached retina and will be out four to six weeks. Here is a statement from ROH head booker Gabe Sapolsky from ROHWrestling.com:

Bryan saw an eye specialist today and it was found that he had a detached retina. He had laser surgery today where they re-attached the retina and tightened the muscles surrounding the eye. The reason his eye couldn’t come down after the match was because the muscle was loosened. It’s an outpatient surgery, so he was released today after having surgery this morning. The surgery went well, and there’s a 90% he will regain vision, although it may be blurred.

It is recommended he take 4-6 weeks off. He will have a check up next week and the week after to check on his progress. I promise you all that we will not rush Bryan back. Bryan is maybe the toughest individual I’ve ever known and that covers a lot of ground. No one saw the locker room scene after almost all of his matches after the shoulder injury and how much pain he was in and how he was able to gut it out at his own insistence. This isn’t a guy that takes pain killers or anything even close. He is also a guy that knows his limits. He is just incredibly tough.

As soon as I get updates from him I will post them here.

Going back to Saturday, I started watching the Bryan vs. Morishima match in the locker room with the rest of the crew. The entire locker room was cringing at Bryan’s kicks and Morishima’s strikes. I found myself just rising and working my way to the curtain so I could watch it in person in the middle of the crowd. I got so lost in the match I couldn’t tell you how long it was or at what point I made my way through the curtain to watch the match unobstructed on the ramp. Simply put, it was one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen. The great fans of New York really brought it to the next level as the crowd reactions were among the most intense in ROH history. I was elated after the match because after all this is what I enjoy. That elation soon turned to panic and dismay when Paul Turner passed me on the ramp and said “he can’t see out of his eye.”

Everyone was in a great mood backstage and that quickly changed when Bryan sat down and word began to spread. The entire crew came over to see how Bryan was doing, who of course was taking it like a champ and saying it was no big deal. His eye was telling a different story. As the doctor was looking at it, his eye was rolled back into his head and it stayed that way. Bryan couldn’t control it. It was really hard to look at. I can’t even imagine how Bryan got through this.

Since Danielson had advanced to the finals of the summer-long NWA World Heavyweight Championship tournament (billed as “Reclaiming the Glory”), the National Wrestling Alliance has had to change the final match-up, which is taking place September 1 in Bayamon, PR. Filling in for Danielson to face Brent Albright will be Adam Pearce, who Dragon beat in the semifinals. Here is the official statement from the NWA:

MEDICAL EMERGENCY FORCES DRAGON OUT OF NWA WORLD TITLE PICTURE

Charlotte, NC (August 27, 2007) – Due to an injury sustained over the weekend, and emergency eye surgery this morning, “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson has been eliminated from the NWA World Championship Tournament Finals set to take place this Saturday September 1 in Puerto Rico. The decision to remove Danielson was made by the NWA Board of Directors after Executive Director Robert K. Trobich conducted several conversations with Danielson’s physicians.

When reached for comments Trobich said “I have been on the phone all day with Bryan Danielson and his doctors. Bryan has been literally begging to be permitted to wrestle in the NWA title tournament final this Saturday in Puerto Rico against Brent Albright. Like all wrestling fans, I was eagerly anticipating the first-ever match-up between two world-class warriors like Danielson and Albright, with the biggest prize in wrestling hanging in the balance. However, as gutsy a fighter as Bryan is, there is simply no way he can be medically cleared to fight in this match after such serious surgery. Brent Albright deserves his shot at the belt, now, however. In that regard, after hours of discussions with the NWA board, I have decided that the title match will go on as scheduled, and Adam Pearce, who just met Danielson in a hotly-contested semifinal match ten days ago, will step into the final in Danielson’s place.”

Everyone in the National Wrestling Alliance wishes Danielson a safe and speedy recovery.

For additional news and information please visit www.nwawrestling.com.

We at Pulse Wrestling, of course, also wish Danielson a full recovery.

Matthew Michaels is editor emeritus of Pulse Wrestling, and has been since the site launched.