Former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan Needs Shoulder Surgery

WWE.comIn this week's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer notes that Daniel Bryan may need shoulder surgery to help recover from the neck surgery that he had in May. A full exam recently revealed a lot of different shoulder and neck issues that Bryan has. For fans wondering when Bryan might return, unfortunately there is no estimate on when the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion might be back. The report goes on to note that he is out of all WWE plans and there is no internal estimate on when he will be back. The last time Bryan appeared on WWE TV was at Money in the Bank a few weeks ago when he told the fans that he might need a second surgery. We didn't know exactly what kind of surgery he meant whether it was another one for his neck or this most recent news item about possibly needing to repair his shoulder injury. It's very sad news because Bryan was doing so well over the last year since was elevated to the level of a top guy. While we may not have liked how he was booked at the Royal Rumble when he wasn't even a part of the match, at least they got it right and had him headline WrestleMania 30. Seeing him become the WWE Champion was a great moment that was the highlight of WWE's year so far. Now that his future is very much in doubt there's a lot of concern about when he might return to the ring and if he does return can he wrestle the same style or will he have to tone it down? Most likely he'll have to change things up. He's good enough to adjust. It's just one of those things where every time he takes a bump or grabs his neck to sell a move everybody's going to think there's something really wrong with him. Since we don't know when he's going to be back it makes sense that WWE has nothing planned for him. There was a feeling that he might be ready for SummerSlam. That's not happening. Maybe he'll be ready before the end of the year. Perhaps saving him for the Royal Rumble as a surprise would be smarter. We really don't know. It all depends on how his healing goes and if he needs that second surgery, how long will he take to recover from that too? For now all we can do is hope for the best with Daniel Bryan and that he can return to the WWE ring to perform for the fans that love him as much as any wrestler we've seen in many years.