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What's the story?
Daniel Bryan was cleared to return to the ring this past week after two years on the sidelines and, it seems that many of his fellow wrestlers are happy to see him finally back where he belongs.
In case you didn't know...
Bryan was forced to retire from in-ring competition back in February 2016 when WWE doctors refused to clear him physically to continue to wrestle because of the concussions he had sustained throughout his career. A recent EEG had revealed that he had a small subacute or chronic lesion in his brain's temporoparietal region.
As part of the speech that the SmackDown General Manager made on Tuesday night, he stated that he never gave up on the hope of returning and that his wife Brie Bella encouraged him to continue to fight and to continue to see different doctors until he received the results that he wanted, which he finally did this week.
The heart of the matter
The news of Bryan's recent clearance has been met with a lot of positivity from both the WWE Universe and his peers in WWE. Kofi Kingston spoke to Sports Illustrated recently and said that it is great news for someone like Bryan who loves to be in the ring. (Transcript via WrestlingInc)
"When it comes to wrestling, Daniel Bryan is just so passionate about being here. This is great news. Him being around as the GM and backstage, I know he loved that, but you can just see it in his eyes and you can feel how he wants to be in the ring. The fact that he can now safely compete is awesome for him. I'm really, really happy for him."
Kingston and Bryan have worked together on SmackDown Live over the past few months and it seems that even he sees that this story has a happy ending. Bryan proved on Tuesday night that there was definitely no ring rust when he attempted to defend himself after an attack by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. An attack that could lead to his first official match in more than two years at WrestleMania.
What's next?
Daniel Bryan left the arena on a stretcher following SmackDown Live on Tuesday night but it is thought that he will recover in time to extract his revenge in two weeks at WrestleMania.
Author's take
There isn't a single star who has anything bad to say about Daniel Bryan, which could be why this news has been met with such positivity. Bryan had fought for the chance to step back into the ring one more time because he loves the business so much and it's nice that WWE has been able to find a way to allow him to return to doing the one thing that he loves.
