The Wrestling Thread

Following more than two years of extensive evaluations, four-time World Champion Daniel Bryan has been medically cleared to return to in-ring competition by leading neurosurgeons, neurologists and concussion experts, including Dr. Robert Cantu, Dr. Javier Cárdenas and Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher.

Bryan underwent a full review of his medical history and received comprehensive neurological and physical evaluations independent of WWE. He was cleared by each doctor as well as WWE’s Medical Director, Dr. Joseph Maroon.

After enjoying numerous championship runs, battling in legendary rivalries as both a singles and tag team competitor and sparking the epic “Yes!” Movement, Bryan was forced to make an emotional decision to retire from competition in February 2016. Later that year, he became the SmackDown LIVE General Manager, where he has continued to be an active part of the blue brand.

What will the future hold for WWE’s “Yes!” Man? Could we see a WrestleMania return? How will this affect his role as GM? Who will he look to face first? Find out as The Road to WrestleMania continues on SmackDown LIVE, tonight at 8/7 C.

 

Huge news WWE just got its number 1 babyface back

 

Might have to make an effort to stay up now.

 

Great stuff. Pleased for Daniel too.

 

Urgh

 

Shut up.

 

* gonna burst into tears when he doesn't win the rumble again

 

That's all we ever wanted.

 

Hope he stays on Smackdown so people don't whinge about how Roman is taking his spot or some nonsense like that.

 

YES! YES! YES!

 

Kevin Dunn goofed.

 

Delighted he is back. Fantastic news. Looks like it'll be him and shane vs owens & zayn.

 

I want Nia jax to batter me.

 

Monday's WWE RAW, featuring The Ultimate Deletion between Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt as the main event, drew 3.327 million viewers. This is down from last week's 3.352 million viewers, which was the best viewership since the post-Royal Rumble episode in late January. This week's show featured an appearance by WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka advertised ahead of time.

For this week's show, the first hour drew 3.434 million viewers (last week's hour 1 - 3.351 million), the second hour drew 3.472 million viewers (last week's hour 2 - 3.429 million) and the final hour drew 3.076 million viewers (last week's hour 3 - 3.275 million).

This week's WWE SmackDown, featuring Daniel Bryan's first appearance since finally being cleared to return to the ring for WWE, drew 2.888 million viewers. This is up from last week's 2.771 million viewers and is the best blue brand viewership of 2018. This is also the best SmackDown viewership going back to the April 11th, 2017 episode.

This week's show featured Bryan's return to TV announced ahead of time but the news on his in-ring future didn't break until a few hours before the show. No matches were announced ahead of time