Retirements in wrestling always cut deep down. From Austin to Michaels, Flair to Edge, nobody wants to see their favourite guy admit that he's mortal in a land of immortals. The Monday February 8th Raw was potentially one of the most emotional in years; after three hours of building it up throughout the show, and three hours of "is it actually happening? Is it a work?", Daniel Bryan closed the show and, like Edge before him, tearfully announced to the world that due to repeated and multiple head injuries sustained throughout his sixteen-year career, he would be retiring from active competition with immediate effect, breaking the hearts of his millions of fans. Though he was allowed to go out on his own terms, thankfully before anything serious happened, there is now a gaping space left at the top of the card in the company, and in parallel, the WWE Universe has lost the man they reserve their most vocal support for. Let's take a look at the hole that Bryan's retirement has left in the landscape of WWE, for the present time and the potential future. Long live the YES movement.
