The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Daniel Bryan will miss the WWE Payback show, with his neck surgery recovery time being 6 to 8 weeks which may just see him get back in time for the Money In The Bank show.
Most of the details around the minimally invasive surgery are being kept quiet and WWE officials have said nothing on the injury. What has been revealed is that Bryan was examined in the last week and a judgement was made that minor surgery was essential sooner rather than later. At the Raw taping on the 12th of May there wasn’t many people who knew about Bryan’s condition and the show had to be completely rewritten on the day. That illustrates just how quickly this has all been thrust upon Bryan and WWE.
A lot more about Bryan’s condition will be known after the surgery. The worst case scenario is said to be the 8 week time frame, with a best case scenario of just a couple of weeks. That’s encouraging to hear but the WWE may go on the side of caution and put Bryan on the injured list for at leas the next month. With him off the Payback PPV regardless, there’s really no need for Bryan to be rushed back to TV. An announcement about the WWE title is scheduled for this Monday’s Raw and it could see the championship being vacated. If that’s the case it will almost certainly hurt Bryan’s perception and standing in the company which had already been on the wane in his weak Kane feud.
The Payback event will be hurt from a critical point of view without Bryan, but is unlikely to be too disturbed commercially due to the fact fans on the Network have paid for it regardless. The one thing this injury has confirmed is how little depth the WWE have in the main event scene right now, Cena and Bryan (previously Punk) are far too heavily relied upon by WWE.
The company, like all of us, will be hoping Bryan is back to work as soon as humanly possible.
Read more at Daniel Bryan Will Miss WWE Payback And More On His Situation
