WWE Wellness Policy - 6 Wrestlers Badly Derailed (And 4 That Prevailed)

Daniel Bryan was great.

You wouldn't find many to argue that, nor would you see much disagreement proposing that he was one of the very best wrestlers in the whole world.

But the landscape of WWE, as everybody knows, just did not have place in the Main Event for somebody with those attributes.

The Wellness Policy changed all that. Perception is reality, and finally, when they had no choice but to, WWE began altering perception of smaller, technical talents to show they could actually belong in the upper echelon.

Bryan became one of the greatest success stories of this change, because WWE's superstar selection is now so fundamentally different, a guy like him was allowed to be considered a big-time player.

The company passed on him in the pre-2005 days, but by the time the Yes Movement began first gathering pace in 2012, that prototype superstar model had finally been shattered. A clean-living vegan, Bryan ascended to the pinnacle through ability first, something that happened with greatly reduced frequency before testing began.

And interestingly, it's WWE's much stricter Wellness checks in 2016 that may have saved Bryan's life. Their doctors repeatedly refused to clear him, and they were proved right to do so. He's since enjoy a tremendous quality of life instead of being another sad wrestling statistic, and may yet one day be fit again to return.