WWE planning to release Daniel Bryan?

(Image via WWE)

Former WWE world heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan has been out of action for the better part of the last year, and, according to multiple sources, it doesn’t appear that he’ll be returning to the ring anytime soon, much to his chagrin.

For a long time now, Bryan has expressed his desire to return to the ring, but, due to his long history of concussions, WWE has been extremely hesitant to clear him, even though several doctors outside of the company have told Bryan that he’s fine, and should be allowed to return to the ring whenever WWE is ready to have him do so.

Dr. Joseph Maroon, who is WWE’s head of medical, has advised WWE to never allow Daniel Bryan to return to the ring due to the number of concussions he’s suffered throughout his 10-plus year professional wrestling career.

While Dr. Maroon’s stance is public knowledge, some WWE fans believe that the company is not allowing Bryan to return to the ring has nothing to do with their concern for his long-term health, and that it only has to do with their own belief that, if they allowed him to come back, he would spoil their WrestleMania plans for the third consecutive year, which is something that they certainly don’t want to happen.

WWE’s fans’ theory was strengthened when ex-ECW star Tommy Dreamer returned to WWE television several months ago.

Dreamer, who is 10 years older than Bryan, has suffered several concussions throughout his professional wrestling career, and during his recent appearance on TSN’s Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, Dreamer admitted to having suffered nearly twenty concussions throughout his career.

So, with Dreamer’s history of concussions being public knowledge, WWE fans began to criticize the company for clearing Dreamer while they’re refusing to clear Daniel Bryan.

Bryan wants to return to the ring, and lately, he’s been extremely vocal about it, which is leading many to believe that he’s coming back sometime soon, possibly at the Royal Rumble.

However, the latest WWE rumor surrounding Daniel Bryan is suggesting that the former WWE world heavyweight champ is going to be released from the company next week.

The Scott Keith Blog of Doom is claiming to have gotten a tip from someone in the WWE human resources department claiming to have knowledge that the company is planning to release Daniel Bryan next week. You can check out the excerpt below.

“This is going to be hard to believe and you probably get a lot of nutjobs writing every day – but I work in WWE HR. I’m not high up the totem pole by any means though.

So on Friday one of my co-workers had to process a release – and that release was for Daniel Bryan.

Monday, January 18th is the date that is listed for when the deal is processed. Not sure exactly why – my coworker was very quiet about the whole thing other than letting a few people know.”

If this is true, the timing of it is a bit strange, as WWE is heading into one of their biggest shows of the year – the Royal Rumble – which will almost certainly be filled with Daniel Bryan chants if the company releases him prior to the event.

Furthermore, even though he hasn’t been on television for the better part of the last year, Daniel Bryan is still one of the company’s biggest stars, and if they released him, they would lose one of their biggest stars to a competitor, as Bryan has made it clear that he will wrestle elsewhere if WWE doesn’t allow him to wrestle in their organization ever again.

If this rumor is true, and WWE does end up releasing Daniel Bryan, they will, without question, face some major backlash from their core fan-base.