10 Most Heart-Breaking WWE Moments Of The 2010s

4. Bryan Says Goodbye

In February 2016, one of the greatest wrestlers of all time said goodbye to the WWE Universe for what we all thought would be for good.

Daniel Bryan, who rose from one of the most innovative and respected indie wrestlers of the 2000s to beloved underdog in WWE to world champion at WrestleMania, took to the ring on an episode of Raw to deliver the news we'd all been dreading.

The same head and neck injuries that had forced Bryan to vacate the WWE and Intercontinental Championships in previous years had forced the former American Dragon to retire from in-ring competition. Despite being cleared by every other doctor he'd seen, WWE's specialists had not permitted Bryan to wrestle and so that was that.

Watching one of the most popular wrestlers of recent years tearfully say goodbye to the industry he loved so much was just horrible. He'd given so much to the fans and his body had given out on him right when his career was taking off. It was beyond cruel.

Luckily, this story had a happy ending when Bryan returned to the ring in 2018 after WWE doctors finally cleared him. However, for a few years, we all had to live with the idea that we would never see another Daniel Bryan match ever again.