WWE Intercontinental Champion Daniel Bryan made headlines this week when he was pulled from the WWE European tour earlier than planned due to concerns over his health. Rumors had been swirling for weeks regarding his physical issues, with many claiming that he had been telling friends that he was hurting more than normal.
Prior to WrestleMania 31 a few weeks ago, Bryan appeared on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast and spoke about his neck and elbow issues from last year, and how they were affecting him.
“We didn’t know how my neck was going to do when I came back,” Bryan told Jericho on his podcast at the time. “It’s the same with any injury, I think. If you have knee surgery, you don’t know how your knee is going to do until you actually start putting pressure on it and you can do as much rehab or whatever you want, and now it’s this thing of it being like getting pretty worn down, and I’ve never felt this way before.”
Many questioned Bryan’s decision not to undergo additional surgery to try and better correct the physical issues he had been dealing with, including John Cena, who publicly disagreed with the way Bryan was handling the situation, which he alluded to during an episode of last seasons “Total Divas” reality show.
Bryan would later theorize that it could just be age and years of a very physically demanding style finally catching up with him.
“But I’m also getting older. So I don’t know if it’s just (that), but sometimes when you’ve been off for nine or 10 months, then coming back takes maybe some getting used to, and I don’t know if I’m still in that adjustment process,” said Bryan.
Bryan is scheduled to defend his WWE Intercontinental Championship against Bad News Barrett at the upcoming WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view, which takes place on Sunday, April 26, 2015, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
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