Daniel Bryan will not be back for WWE's January Royal Rumble, reports Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. The latest news is that Bryan needs another surgery, after failing to recover any strength in his right arm. Doctors had put that surgery off back in August, but the lack of progress proves that decision was an error. They'll now proceed with the surgery, thus meaning the star will miss his initial January return aim. There isn't any certainty to why Bryan isn't recovering his strength, which explains the lack of definite timetable for his return. What we do know is that his next surgery could rule him out anywhere between six months to a year. "It doesnt look like Rumble," Meltzer said of the WWE star's return. In fact, sescoops.com reports that there's some concern backstage in WWE that Bryan may never wrestle again. The talk backstage at Raw was that Bryan needs Tommy John surgery, which sees a surgeon replace a UCL with a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's body. That could stop him ever getting cleared for WWE - hence why they've probably put it off so long. The WWE creative team is now working on the understanding that Bryan will not be back any time soon. It is obviously a devastating blow for the wrestler who seemed to have it all back in April. He was the show closing main event of WrestleMania 30 and won the WWE Championship. Just a short while later and he started having nerve problems, leading to the initial surgery. He's now lost so much momentum that it's hard to imagine he'll even find the same level of popularity again. Bad luck has cost him his main event run, let's just hope that it hasn't cost him his entire wrestling career.
