Daniel Bryan's Reported Concussion Issues Put His WWE Career in Jeopardy

A warrior may have to put his sword down, as concussions threaten to cut Daniel Bryan's WWE career short. 

Fans waiting to see the hyper-charged mat master, the squared circle's underdog superhero, get back to laying out foes with missile dropkicks need to start tempering their expectations. The more information that comes out about a veiled injury situation, the more it looks like Bryan is done in the ring.

Earlier this year, WWE pulled him out of the European tour. The wording of their explanation was vague.

When PWInsider reached out to the company, WWE responded with a statement that read, "Daniel Bryan has been pulled from the remainder of the UK tour as a precautionary measure." 

When Bryan relinquished his Intercontinental Championship in May, he didn't offer much additional clarity. He talked about being hurt but didn't specify the nature of his injury. 

On Raw that night, he said, "They don't know how long I'll be out. They said maybe weeks, maybe months. They said I might not ever be able to wrestle again."

Many assumed that he was suffering aftereffects of his neck surgery from the year before. After all, as he told Bleacher Report's Jonathan Snowden, he was so weak at one point during his recovery that he couldn't turn the key to open his car door. 

Bryan allowed fans to forget about those concerns when he returned before the 2015 Royal Rumble. He looked like his old self in the ring. He has back to ricocheting off the ropes and hurtling himself toward his foes. 

That comeback only lasted a few months, though. He's now out of action, and fans are left with only crumbs of info about what's keeping the former WWE champ on the sidelines. 

Bret Hart's view of the situation has raised new alarms. The Hitman told Sports Illustrated in a recent interview, "Daniel Bryan is finished. He'll never wrestle again. I don't think he knows it yet."

He went on to compare Bryan's situation to his own abrupt exit from wrestling. A boot to the head in a match with Goldberg concussed Hart so badly that his career all but ended. He has since done some spot appearances in the ring, but that kick was effectively the deathblow to his career.

Hart isn't just being fatalistic here. Backstage word indicates that he is right. 

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestling Inc), concussion issues plagued Bryan following a match with Sheamus at this year's WrestleMania. The report also noted that WWE has wanted to keep the nature of the injury quiet because of the recent lawsuits aimed at the company over concussions.

If this is the case, Bryan's story is in danger of having a heartbreaking ending follow his dream run to the top of the WrestleMania card.

Jonathan Bachman/Associated Press

Bryan notes in his biography Yes! My Improbably Journey to the Main Event of WrestleMania that he has suffered multiple concussions throughout his career. A devil-may-care in-ring style, exchanging hard headbutts with Nigel McGuinness and crashes through tables contributed to that.

And unfortunately, concussions leave an athlete susceptible to future concussions.

That's what did Corey Graves' wrestling career in when he was still in his 20s. He told fans before the NXT TakeOver: R Evolution special that concussion and issues stemming from them would force him out of the ring and into the role of a broadcaster:

Bryan's story is looking a lot like Graves' of late. Like Graves, he has multiple concussions on his medical record. Like Graves, he's been pulled out of action for a long time, with WWE offering little explanation.

If a severe concussion is indeed what is keeping Bryan from wrestling right now, that points to his condition being extremely serious. He hasn't competed for over two months now.

Dolph Ziggler had his bell rung so hard in 2013 that he couldn't remember the Raw or traveling to SmackDown the next day, as he told WWE.com. The Showoff, though, only missed a month's worth of action.

WWE's insistence on keeping tight-lipped about Bryan's injury, the length of his stay on the bench and the fact that his early indy days are marked with concussion is worrisome. Hart's haunting words only add to the feeling that Bryan's career is in trouble.

Here's hoping that Bryan makes a full recovery, proving The Hitman and all those predicting early retirement wrong, but it's looking more and more like fans will have to start referring to his career in the past tense.