Well, like everyone else, I have no idea as to the extent of the damage done to Bryan's neck, though any sort of trauma that includes potential nerve damage adds that little extra inkling of fear to the equation. Neck trauma is bad enough when it's just concerning disks, ligaments or the bone itself, but it's a whole other ball game when you have nerve issues because it can often be such a crap shoot. For some reason, whenever I hear someone talking about trauma to muscles, ligaments, bones or even organs like the heart or liver, I'm always reminded of a line from the film "Young Frankenstein" when Gene Wilder's character is lecturing a group of medical students comparing the complexity of the Nervous System; one of them reminds him of the advances made in the treatment of problems with the heart or kineys to which Wilder responds "Hearts and kidneys are tinker toys; I'm talking about the human Nervous System. You have a better chance of reanimating this scalpel than you have of mending a broken Nervous System!!!" Even though that film is over 40 years old, and a great comedy, that line has a lot of genuine truth to it because there's so much that even modern medical science doesn't know or totally understand in regards to the Nervous System.
I very much admire and respect Daniel Bryan's love, devotion and passion for the business he's chosen. Like a lot of other people, I would have loved to have seen him had more time to bask in the glory of the accomplishment of making it to the top of the ladder in WWE; I'm not saying that he was THE guy or anything like that, but Daniel Bryan is someone that most fans would have snickered at when it came to suggesting that he could one day not only be a main eventer, but the most popular wrestler on the WWE roster. I don't know the man personally but, like most others, you sort of get at least some feel of who someone is based on the information, sometimes abundant and sometimes limited, fans are privy to and Bryan's someone who came off as a genuinely nice, down to earth person and I think that most people have a desire to see someone like that succeed in making his/her dreams come true. After all, damn near everyone knows the sting of being told by someone at some point that they're not good enough, that they don't have what it takes, that they should give up on their dream because it'll never happen, etc. Personally, I think that's one reason why so many rallied around Bryan because based on what we've heard about Vince over the years, Bryan seems like someone that just wasn't likely to make it and he had to scratch & claw his way to the top without backstabbing, without playing politics backstage and largely made it because, again, a lotta people liked that about him. We live in a pretty cynical world with a lot of pessimism going about and, again, Bryan's someone who seemed more genuine than a lot of other wrestling personalities; not only didn't he have the sort of cosmetic look Vince and other WWE officials are gaga over, he's a laid back sort of guy that hasn't played the usual cutthroat games we've heard about with so many.
As much as I enjoy watching the guy do what he does, I'd hate for him to possibly make things even worse on himself. It has to sting because all this came about during a time when Bryan was on top of the world both personally and professionally. He's only 34 years old, yet all he's done his entire adult life is be a pro wrestler and while he's at an age where he's still in the physical prime of his life, his career may very well be over because, as I alluded to earlier, anything concerning nerve damage is often a crap shoot. If he has another surgery and is given a clean bill of health, MAYBE he could go the rest of his career with no problem or he could have one big bump in which his head is whiplashed with just the right amount of force to just cripple him. As a result, it might be best for him to bow out rather than potentially risk his life, even for a job he dearly loves.
