MSG Network will air a WrestleMania special tonight as part of their Defining Moments television series starting at 10:30PM and as well on Monday at 7:30PM.
The special will take a look at the first ever WrestleMania from Madison Square Garden with brand new interviews recorded with Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper (before he passed away), Tito Santana, Jimmy Hart, Mean Gene Okerlund, and others. It will feature an inside look on what it took to pull off the event from the people who worked it.
You can see a cool preview of what’s coming tonight below.
Thursday Night Smackdown! TV Report for February 11th, 2016
Introduction Segment: Video Promo and Welcoming
The regular Smackdown! video plays and Mauro Ranallo greets us from Portland, Oregon.
Match #1: Single – Chris Jericho VS. A.J. Styles
Prior to the contest, Jericho cuts a promo and is happy to be wrestling Styles again, since he was defeated by A.J. on Raw just over two weeks ago. “Y2J” doesn’t think that A.J. is “phenomenal,” because he just entered WWE while Jericho has been here a long while and accomplished a lot. He orders Styles to “get down to this ring,” and Styles obliges.
Just as they square off, The Social Outcasts interrupt. Heath Slater, Adam Rose, and Curtis Axel slowly walk to the ring. They put themselves over, but can’t agree on a nickname for Rose and Axel; this upsets Jericho, and he and Styles attack them. Jericho says his and Styles’ match will still be on later, but they will both partner together and take on a combo of the Outcasts, next!
Winner: None due to No Official Start
Commercials.
Match #2: Tag-Team – Chris Jericho and A.J. Styles VS. The Social Outcasts (Curtis Axel and Adam Rose) (with Social Outcasts member Heath Slater)
Curtis hits Jericho with a shoulder-block, but “Y2J” dropkicks back and tags in Styles. He also dropkicks Axel, then switches with Chris. This happens a few times, as both are trying to prove who’s better. As A.J. was jawing with Jericho, Rose hits him with a knee-to-the-back and takes over. He clotheslines Styles three times in the corner, then tags in Axel who gives him a rolling neck-snap. (Thanks, Mauro!)
Axel wears down A.J. with a grounding rear chinlock, but Styles tries to battle out with elbows. He hits a Pele Kick after ducking Curtis. Rose is in before A.J. can get the tag, but Styles hits back with a flurry of punches, elbows, kicks, and a clothesline. He stumbles towards Jericho, who tags in, and takes out all three Outcasts teammates. “Y2J” hits the Lionsault (springboard-moonsault), but A.J. tags himself back in and springboards over Jericho with an elbow smash. He covers Adam for the victory!
Winners via Pinfall: Chris Jericho and A.J. Styles
Post-match, Jericho gives A.J. a Codebreaker and walks away.
Tweets about Daniel Bryan’s retirement are shown.
Ads.
Segment #2: Video Promo
A Raw recap of the contract signing for the #1 Contender’s Spot to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Fastlane is aired.
It is announced that Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman will be on next week’s Smackdown!
The Dudley Boyz make their entrance and will talk, next!
Commercials.
Segment #3: Arena Promo
Bubba-Ray and D-Von are in the ring, and Bubba is tired of the talk about Daniel Bryan when they did something significant on Monday Night too. D-Von rants that we, the fans, looked at them as “nostalgia” when they returned last summer, but he claims they are “the baddest tag-team on the planet.”
Bubba is not happy that all we wanted was to see them put their rivals through tables, but it wasn’t the table that got them “nine World Tag-Team Championships.” Bubba orders the ringside crew to remove all the tables that are surrounding the ring. They leave on inside, so Bubba can give their famous call out one more time. He begins, “D-Von, get the…” then drops the mike and they put the table away properly and walk.
Becky Lynch is out and will be on commentary!
Ads.
Match #3: Single – Sasha Banks VS. Naomi (with Team B.A.D. partner Tamina)
Naomi starts aggressively with a kick and elbow-smash. She whips Sasha, but is reversed and Banks gives her a Lou Thesz Press with mount-punches. Sasha chokes Naomi in the corner with her boot, then slaps her off a run from the ropes. Naomi elbows back, but her double-boots are caught and Banks gives her double-knees in the corner instead. Tamina pulls Naomi out for a break.
Commercials.
Naomi misses a kick, and they trade pin combos for near-falls. Naomi dropkicks, but is chucked out of the ring onto Tamina. Sasha kicks Tamina away, but Naomi yanks Sasha off the apron harshly. She runs Banks into the side of the ring back-first, then dominates in the ring. She steps on Sasha’s hand, then runs at her with a low-clothesline. She repeatedly kicks her fast, then hits Banks with jumping-enziguri.
Naomi whips Sasha into the ropes, but Banks reverses with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Sasha fires up with numbers clotheslines then a dropkick. She catches another tilt-a-whirl headscissors, then knees her a couple times in the corner. Tamina interferes, but it doesn’t phase Sasha, who kicks out after a headscissors-facebuster.
Tamina attacks Lynch on the outside, so Banks goes after her, booting her in the face. Sasha goes back into the ring and is rolled-up, but reverses it into the Bank Statement modified-crossface, forcing Naomi to give up!
Winner via Submission: Sasha Banks
Segment #4: Backstage Promo
JoJo is with A.J. Styles and asks about his match with Jericho. Styles says that he is “proud” of being a “redneck,” which Chris called him last week, but when “Y2J” said A.J. was a “rookie,” he doesn’t agree. Styles promises to make Jericho see why he is “The Phenomenal One.”
The Wyatt Family are in Portland!
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Segment #5: Arena Promo
The Wyatt Family make their way to the ring. Bray has the microphone and gives a speech about being in full control after taking out Kane, The Big Show, and Ryback. “We have out sights set on ridding WWE of all of its ‘Titans.’” Luke, Erick, and Braun predict the badness that will happen. Bray says a “war” is starting.
Up next, a Six-Man Tag-Team!
Commercials.
Match #4: Six-Man Tag-Team – Stardust and The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) VS. Neville and Tag-Team Champions The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara and Kalisto) (Non-Title)
Stardust and The Ascension attack before the bell, then control for a while until Neville gets the hot-tag to Kalisto. He dives in with a springboard seated-senton, then a springboard corkscrew-crossbody-elbow. Both Dragons rocket through the ropes onto Viktor and Stardust, then hit a Salida Del Sol and high-kick on Konnor. Cara and Neville finish with a swanton bomb and Red Arrow Splash from the top turnbuckle!
Winners via Pinfall: Neville and Tag-Team Champions The Lucha Dragons
Ads.
Segment #6: Video Promo
More tweets about Daniel Bryan from fellow wrestlers are aired. The announcers talk about him and a video is aired that recaps the news and his speech from Monday. It is mixed in with the song they used on Raw for him and career highlights.
Chris Jericho and A.J. Styles enter, then will match-up next!
Commercials.
Match #5: Single – Chris Jericho VS. A.J. Styles
They fiercely lockup and struggle, then Jericho slings A.J. over with a side headlock take-down. Styles his back with a dropkick, chops, and a snap-suplex. He smacks Jericho with a forearm in the corner, but is tripped up, however trips Jericho back up with a mat-based-hurricanrana. Chris chops back and kicks Styles, then slingshots him into the bottom rope. He suplexes A.J., but is kicked in the corner as he whipped Styles there. Jericho hits back again with a springboard-dropkick that tumbles A.J. to the floor.
Ads.
Jericho has A.J. clamped in a grounding rear-chinlock, but A.J. fights out with forearms. Chris elbows back hard, but is sent front-first into the turnbuckle. Styles chops-and-forearms away, then hits a running low-forearms and fast grounding punches. He misses a kneedrop, and Jericho hits a running front-dropkick.
“Y2J” chops in one corner then runs at A.J. with a clothesline in the other. Jericho climbs the turnbuckle, but is stopped with a punch and Pele Kick! Jericho turns a clothesline into a butterfly-underhook-backbreaker. 1 – 2 – A..J. gets his shoulder up! Chris goes for the Walls, but Styles turns him over. He hits a few quick punches and chops, but Jericho counters with an enziguri. He goes to the turnbuckle, but is stopped with a dropkick!
Both punch back-and-forth, but Jericho hangs onto the ropes and A.J. misses a dropkick. Chris Lionsaults but doesn’t take this! He runs, but is caught in a fireman’s carry knee-to-the-neck. Styles gets Jericho in position for a Styles Clash, but Chris switches into the Walls of Jericho! A.J. crawls to the ropes, and turns Jericho into the Calf-Crusher! Jericho holds on and almost taps, but manages to clutch the bottom rope for a break!
Styles tries to drag him, but instead dropkicks him to the floor. He follows with a slingshot-forearm, then puts Jericho back in the ring. A.J. goes for the springboard-forearm again, but Jericho pushes him. He tries a pin, but the referee disallows because Jericho’s foot was under the bottom rope. Instead, he quickly runs and hits the Codebreaker after whipping Styles into the corner. Chris covers for the hard-wrestled-victory!
The New York Post reached out to WWE to comment on allegations that their suspension of Titus O’Neil was racially motivated, something that fans online also wondered. WWE however refuted the serious allegation.
“The suspension of Titus O’Neil had nothing to do with race and everything to do with unprofessional conduct,” WWE said in a statement issued to the Post. In addition to that short statement, WWE also said that O’Neil acknowledged “the gravity of his mistake” and proceeded to forward the text of a text message that O’Neil allegedly sent.
“I feel like sh– now so if you have to let me go, I understand. Stupid mistake,” he wrote, according to WWE.
Meanwhile, one of O’Neil’s biggest friends, Dave Bautista, wrote on Twitter that he called him and suggested to him to ask for his release.
Tammy “Sunny” Sytch has wrote on Twitter that she has been hospitalized at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for the past couple of days thanks to an inflamed pancreas, a condition that she already went through years ago due to alcohol abuse.
Yesterday the WWE Hall of Famer noted that she was getting an endoscopy and considering she just released a pornographic film which also included some backside action, fans on Twitter went ahead and pretty much came with every joke available in the book.
“Ya know, I’ve been sick in the hospital going through a ton of tests. And you assholes want to make jokes about it. Please block yourselves,” she tweeted, obviously not appreciating the sense of humor from those who tweeted her.
She is due to be sentenced in March in three different DUI-related cases.
Episode 4 of season 5 of Total Divas titled Talk of the Town didn’t generate much talk as the show did 810,000 viewers, down 30,000 from last week’s show to become the lowest rated episode of the season so far. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Probably taking somewhat into account the backlash from the online community, WWE has reduced the Titus O’Neil suspension to 60 days, knocking 30 days off from his original suspension but still long enough to make him miss WrestleMania 32.
While O’Neil was unlikely to figure on the main card and probably had just a spot in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, his suspension will also means that he will not be present at the event when usually the majority who works for WWE makes the trip for the big week.
O’Neil was suspended for unprofessional conduct after grabbing McMahon’s arm in a friendly manner following Daniel Bryan’s retirement speech. McMahon turned around and shoved O’Neil, an incident which made it on the live WWE Network broadcast. It was then edited from the videos that were uploaded by WWE.
This week’s Impact on Pop drew a total of 276,000 viewers, down 19,000 viewers from last week’s episode. This is the second week that Impact dropped viewers and the February 9 show is the second lowest rated since it moved to Pop. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE had a strong quarter with eight out of ten business segments registering an increase compared to the prior year quarter.
WWE Network registered $37.2 million in revenue, up from $23.3 million; PPV registered $3.6 million from 274,000 worldwide buys for three events; Television revenues went up 10% to $55.5 million from $50.5 million; Digital Media increased to $7.6 million from $4.0 million; Live Events went up 22% to $32.9 million thanks to higher ticket prices and more attendances; Licensing went up 5% to $9.6 million; Venue merchandise increased 22% to $4.4 million; and WWEShop.com revenue increased 30% to $10 million.
The two departments which didn’t do so well are Home Entertainment, which includes DVD/Blu-Ray sales. This dropped to $2.6 million from $7.8 million in the prior year quarter and WWE Studios did $1.8 million in revenue, down from $2.9 million from last year.
In the latest quarter earnings report, WWE announced that they have 1,217,000 paid subscribers as of December 31, 2015, and averaged approximately 1,237,000 paid subscribers during the quarter, representing a 72% increase from the prior year quarter. 940,000 of those subscribers are domestic while the rest are International.
By the end of Q3 2015, WWE Network had a total of 1,233,000 paid subscribers but only averaged 1,173,000 paid subscriptions throughout the quarter so in Q4 2015 that increased by 64,000 paid.
WWE made $37.2 million during the last quarter from WWE Network revenues, up from the $23.3 million it did the prior year quarter.
Over the year, WWE Network subscribers watched an estimated average of 188 hours of content per household and WWE expects to add more than 300 hours of original content to the network’s featured programming in 2016. Another 1,000 hours of archival content will be added to the already 4,300 hours currently available.
New original programming include Camp WWE, Edge & Christian’s Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness, March to WrestleMania, a new season of Swerved and new episodes of WWE 24 and Stone Cold Podcast.
The company is not providing an estimate of first quarter ending subscribers with this release, but plans to communicate an update on network subscriber levels on April 4, 2016 the day after WrestleMania.
WWE today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2015. For the quarter, the Company reported a Net loss of $1.2 million, as compared to a Net loss of $1.6 million in the prior year quarter. Adjusted net income was $3.4 million compared to Adjusted net loss of $0.6 million, in the fourth quarter last year.
For the year 2015, revenue increased 21% to $658.8 million, the highest in the company’s history, including record levels of revenue from WWE’s Network, Television, Live event, Venue Merchandise, and WWE Shop businesses. Total international revenue increased by 46% to a record $169.8 million.
“Our record revenue in 2015 reflected innovation across all of our businesses, which was highlighted by the successful execution of our network strategy,” said WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon. “Over the next year, we will continue to focus on producing engaging content across all platforms, investing in emerging markets, and deploying technology across the enterprise to drive our long-term growth.”
George Barrios, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, added, “Our strong performance in 2015 reflected the effective execution of our strategy and our investments in content, technology and global markets. As an example, these initiatives led to WWE Network subscribers watching an estimated average of 188 hours of content per household, and WWE garnering more than 8 billion views on YouTube and achieving record international revenues of $170 million. These metrics demonstrate the unique power of our brands and our potential to capitalize on a multi-platform content strategy to drive long-term growth.”
Giving his first “comments” since his suspension from WWE, Titus O’Neil decided to quote Luke 14:11 from the Bible.
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled (ranked below others who are honored or rewarded), and he who humbles himself (keeps a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly) will be exalted (elevated in rank),” O’Neil wrote in a post on his Instagram, adding the hashtags #Blessed, #ContentOfCharacter, #Faith, #Family, and #Community.
While O’Neil’s actions were not malicious and were done in a playful manner, Vince McMahon apparently did not think that was the case and decided to punish one of the genuinely nicest guys in the locker room.
Judging from online comments, the decision was not a very popular one and was seen as an over-reaction to what happened. WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley tweeted his support and told him to “hang in there” and he feels that something good will come out of this bad situation.
WWE Hall of Famer Bret “Hit Man” Hart is undergoing surgery today to hopefully remove the prostate cancer that he was diagnosed with. Hart announced that he is battling cancer on February 1.
“With hesitation and fear, I openly declare myself in my fight against prostate cancer. In the next few days, I will undergo surgery with the hope of defeating this nemesis once and for all,” Hart wrote in a post on his social media accounts.
Calling it his toughest battle to date, Hart has vowed to win this battle or die trying. A few words of encouragement came from one of his former rivals, WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, who wished him luck. “Another challenge for @BretHart, but ultimately victory,” McMahon wrote on Twitter.
From all of us here at Wrestling-Online.com, we wish the Excellence of Execution a speedy recovery and fingers crossed for the best possible outcome!
The Stone Cold Podcast returns this Monday immediately after Monday Night Raw live in Anaheim with special guest The Big Show.
The past two interviews – with Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels – were taped however incorrectly marketed as live by WWE. With Austin living in the Los Angeles area and Raw from Anaheim, one would think that the show will indeed be live since it involves minimal travel for the WWE Hall of Famer.
Austin has so far interviewed Vince McMahon, Triple H, Paul Heyman, Paige, Edge & Christian, Brock Lesnar, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair for the WWE Network program.
Wrestling-Online has added a second bus for WrestleMania Sunday to transport people to the AT&T Stadium. The bus will depart The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas hotel at 3PM and will make a small stop (if necessary) at Union Station to pick up passengers from there as well.
The price is $35 round trip and it will take you straight to the stadium inside the parking lot where the bus will remain parked until the end of the show. After the show, the bus will first stop at Union Station to unload passengers there and then keep on going to The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas to unload remaining passengers.
CM Punk’s debut in the UFC will be delayed as the former WWE champion will be undergoing back surgery in Chicago for a herniated disc according to MMA reporter Ariel Helwani.
“My back has always bugged me,” Punk told MMAFighting.com. “Figured it was just wrestling shit. Turns out it was. It got bad enough to the point where I couldn’t do anything the week before I went to train with the New Jersey Devils last month. One day I could manage, the next day I couldn’t. I’ve been in agony for almost a month. Chiropractor, acupuncture, massage, cryotherapy … nothing worked.”
Punk was told by his doctor that he needs to undergo surgery as soon as possible, news that Punk did not disclose after he found out that he would be fighting Mickey Gall on Saturday. His debut was already delayed after he suffered a shoulder injury last Summer. He is expected to be out for up to six weeks and will then resume light training. Punk said he still hopes to fight this year.
PWInsider.com is reporting that Titus O’Neil has been suspended for 90 days and will miss WrestleMania for putting his hands on Vince McMahon on Raw following the whole Daniel Bryan retirement speech.
The incident occurred after Bryan hugged Vince and walked to the back and then after Vince, Stephanie, and Triple H started walking to the back as well, O’Neil grabbed Vince McMahon’s arm and McMahon turned around and pushed the former tag team champion away. The incident happened in front of everyone and seems to have caught the surrounding Superstars and Divas by surprise.
The original video uploaded by WWE was edited to remove this part but the whole thing made the live broadcast on the WWE Network.
PWInsider adds that after O’Neil arrived at the Smackdown tapings, he was sent packing and told he was being suspended for unprofessional conduct. What seems weird about this is that O’Neil is considered as one of the nicest people backstage and is loved by all. He spends a lot of time working for free in his community as well.
You can see a quick video of what originally happened before the Network cameras faded to black below.
The newly retired Daniel Bryan was a guest on ESPN SportsCenter last night during the Off The Top Rope segment with Jonathan Coachman.
Bryan said it was a very emotional day on Monday especially having to do the in-ring promo with his mother, sister, and close friends all in front row, making it hard for him not to cry and often needed to turn away from them to not let tears come down.
The former WWE World Heavyweight champion then said that they documented 10 concussions although it’s impossible to say how many he had suffered during his time in WWE. Bryan explained how he went to New York last month to undergo a new test to solidify his case to WWE to try and return. He had undergone several EEG tests – tests that measure the electrical brain current – however the new test had EEG testing while checking his reflexes. All previous EEG and brain MRI tests came out positive however when doing this test, his brain wasn’t that okay as he previously thought.
The new test revealed that he has a small sub acute or chronic lesion in the temporal parietal region area of his brain that causes seizures. Bryan said that he had several post concussion seizures but no one could figure out why until this test was done. With that information in hand Bryan decided it was time to call it quits.
Switching topics to the “Yes!” chant, Bryan said he started doing it to be annoying and never imagined it would be something that people would chant along. He said it propelled his career. When Coach asked him about the extended standing ovation he received on Raw including the whole roster and the boss coming out, Bryan said that it was pretty surreal, just like his whole journey, and was thankful that he had a chance to close his eyes and take it all in for one last time.
Half of the WWE roster left to Germany yesterday where they will be performing for four days in four different cities as part of the Road To WrestleMania tour.
The tour kicks off today in Bremen at the ÖVB Arena and continues tomorrow, February 11 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, in Mannheim at the SAP Arena on February 12, and at Magdeburg at the GETEC Arena on February 13. Everyone will be back in town in time for the live Raw on Monday.
The Smackdown tapings held yesterday was done with a skeleton crew. Those who made the trip include Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, Rusev, Lana, Dolph Ziggler, Ric Flair, Charlotte, Paige, The Usos, and Cesaro, who will be doing media appearances.
The Internet wrestling community (often referred to as the IWC) is a complicated bunch. I’m one of them. We moan about everything, we think we know it all, we think we can do a better job than the airheads running WWE or TNA creative and we often don’t agree on anything. But there is one thing that the IWC agrees on: Daniel Bryan.
He is considered to be the IWC’s favorite son. Daniel Bryan can do no wrong. He can dump his wife Brie Bella and fans will cheer him on, probably even more. There’s nothing that Daniel Bryan can do for the fans to turn on him. Nothing. Back from the early days of the American Dragon, fans respected him for his work rate, his tremendous in-ring abilities, and over the last several years, he was respected even more just for being the man he is, Bryan Danielson.
Ever since he started the “Yes Movement,” Bryan never looked back. Remember the night he lost the World title at WrestleMania 28 in just 18 seconds? The next night on Raw, fans “Yes’d” their way throughout the show. I was there and it was incredible. Who would have thought that such a simple chant would get so over with the crowd? It ranks up there with Austin’s annoying “What?” and now the “Yes!” – and to a certain extent “No!” – chant will live forever at wrestling events just like the “Woooo!”
His fairy tale journey to the main event of WrestleMania XXX was a once-in-a-lifetime angle. Everyone hated it that he wasn’t part of the Royal Rumble. Byran wasn’t even was supposed anywhere near the main event of WrestleMania. But the fans revolted. They wanted him there. And WWE had no choice but to listen to what the fans wanted. Yes, it dragged out for a couple of months. Yes, the IWC bitched about it. Yes, I complained too, but the payoff was fantastic. Bryan going through all the bullshit to get to the main event was compelling storytelling. The Internet Wrestling Community is often shortsighted. Fans wanted him winning not just the Rumble, but the title on that same day if possible.
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon – as the Authority – played a major role in his rise during those few months. The closing segment of the December 9, 2013, Raw in Seattle prior to crowning the new undisputed WWE World Heavyweight champion deserves a special mention. As Triple H was addressing former champions, the fans simply couldn’t care less about anything except for DB. They hijacked the segment and the chants took over the arena so much that Mark Henry, Rey Mysterio, Booker T, CM Punk, The Miz, Big Show, and pretty much everyone in the ring broke character and burst out laughing as Triple H tried to talk over the crowd. Bad idea. Mark Henry finally lifted up Bryan’s hand in a bid to stop the chants, but that only resulted in “Yes! Yes! Yes!” chants and they intensified after Bryan started lifting his hand for more “Yes!” chants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsESZMBJhXw
Calling him just a B+ player plus throwing all the obstacles on the way was the perfect way to get more fans behind him. The “Occupy Raw” with the ring filled with fans all chanting “Yes! Yes! Yes!” made for an impressive visual. Daniel Bryan was on a runaway train and he was going over everyone in his way. The fans eventually got what they wanted, a match vs Triple H at WrestleMania XXX to kick things off and later a three way against Randy Orton and Batista in the main event for the title.
For the thousands of fans attending WrestleMania XXX at the Superdome in New Orleans, there were two sure things: Undertaker’s streak was staying alive, and Daniel Bryan will be walking out with the title. Well, Undertaker’s streak was broken by Brock Lesnar, sending shockwaves throughout the world of pro wrestling. But at the end of the night, Daniel Bryan reigned supreme.
I witnessed it live. And it was pretty amazing. The sea of hands going up and down is something that will stay with me forever. It was a culmination of months and months of teasing but at the end of the day it was well worth the wait. I cannot even imagine how Daniel Bryan felt at the time. Only he knows and I’m so glad that he got to experience that.
His career was never the same after that. He was jinxed from the very first start. First his dad passed away, then his friend Connor died too, then the neck injury. After the neck injury came the concussions. Everyone hoped that one of these days he’d be back in the ring, thrilling thousands of fans with his God-given talent.
Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles. Daniel Bryan vs Shinsuke Nakamura. Daniel Bryan vs Samoa Joe. Daniel Bryan vs Sami Zayn. Daniel Bryan vs Finn Balor. All potential matches inside a WWE ring that we will never get to see now.
The decision to retire was the worst case scenario for Daniel Bryan, WWE, and the fans. It was, however, Daniel Bryan’s best – and only – decision. While we are all selfish in a way and still want him to be in that squared circle, there’s nothing in the world worth sacrificing your brain for. The man has a wife. He has family. He wants to be a father. Daniel Bryan needs to be the Bryan Danielson family man now. He gave us his body for years. He sacrificed his career to entertain us.
Will he still be part of the WWE family? Who knows. I’d like to think so. Every time I see him on TV he brings a smile to my face. He doesn’t need to take bumps. I just want him on TV in some capacity. If he decides to call it quits completely, then I am fine with that too.
So, Bryan Danielson, from a fan who believed in your “Yes Movement” and from a fan who cheered for you all the way even though I knew everything is scripted, you made me believe. Thank you for all the memories. It was an honor watching you perform in that ring. I hope retirement brings you joy and happiness. You deserve every bit of it.
This week’s Raw, featuring the Daniel Bryan retirement speech did a total of 3,726,000 viewers, an increase of 343,000 viewers over last week’s episode.
Hour one drew 3,907,000 viewers, followed by 3,905,000 in the second hour before it dropped to 3,368,000 in the third and final hour which had Bryan’s segment. Unfortunately Raw lost over half a million viewers from the first hour to the final hour by the time Daniel Bryan came out to make his speech. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
