By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE issued the following press release on Tuesday to announce that Daniel Bryan has been medically cleared to return to the ring.
Following more than two years of extensive evaluations, WWE Superstar 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.
About Dr. Robert Cantu
Currently Dr. Cantu’s professional responsibilities include those of Clinical Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery and Co-Founder of the CTE Center at the Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA; Senior Advisor to the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee; Founding member, Co-Founder, Medical Director, and Chairman Medical Advisory Board Concussion Legacy Foundation, Boston, MA; Adjunct Professor Exercise and Sport Science and Medical Director National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; Co-Director, Neurologic Sports Injury Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston; Medical Director and Director of Clinical Research at the Cantu Concussion Center at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts; and Neurosurgical Consultant Boston Eagles football team.
Dr. Cantu consults with numerous NFL, NHL and NBA teams, and served as Neurosurgical Consultant to the Boston Cannons professional soccer team from 2003-2010. Dr. Cantu also serves on the Mackey White TBI advisory committee to the NFLPA, and on the International Rugby Board’s independent advisory group on concussion.
About Dr. Javier Cárdenas
Javier Cárdenas, MD, is a neurologist and the director of the Barrow Concussion and Brain Injury Center. He is board certified in neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Cárdenas’ expertise involves concussion, post-concussion syndrome, spinal trauma, and traumatic brain injury. He is a member of the American Academy of Neurology; the National Football League Head, Neck and Spine Committee; and the Arizona Governor’s Advisory Council on Spinal and Head Injuries.
Dr. Cárdenas received his medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He completed a residency in pediatrics at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center and trained in child neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute. Dr. Cárdenas created the Barrow Concussion and Brain Injury Center, which is the nation’s most comprehensive concussion prevention, treatment, and education program. He also created Barrow Brainbook, which Arizona high school students must complete to participate in school sports. It is the first mandated online concussion education and testing tool for student athletes in the country.
About Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher
Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher is a board-certified neurologist, specializing in sports neurology, including concussion, post-concussion syndrome, and the long-term effects of sports on athlete brain health. He serves as the National Director of The Sports Neurology Clinic. Dr. Kutcher is currently the Team Neurologist for the United States Ski and Snowboard Association and served as the Team Neurologist for the United States Olympic Team at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia and in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
He is the Director of the National Basketball Association’s concussion program and works as an advisor to the Players’ Associations of both the National Football League and the National Hockey League. He has also helped develop the concussion policies of the NCAA, several collegiate athletic programs and conferences, as well as local and national youth sport organizations.
About Dr. Joseph Maroon
Joseph C. Maroon, MD, is the Medical Director for WWE. Dr. Maroon is a board-certified clinical professor of neurological surgery and Vice Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is also the Heindl Scholar in Neuroscience. He is Team Neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers and a member of the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee for concussion.
Working with neuropsychologist, Mark Lovell, PhD, he co-developed ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing). ImPACT is the first FDA approved computerized system to determine concussion severity and the timing for return to contact sports. It is now the standard of care for concussion management in the NFL, NHL, major league baseball, NASCAR and is used in over 12,000 colleges and high schools in the United States. For over 20 years he has served as the neurosurgical consultant to professional and college athletes in football, baseball, golf, hockey and soccer, including the Pittsburgh Steelers.
About WWE
WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE’s TV-PG, family-friendly programming can be seen in more than 800 million homes worldwide in 20 languages. WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 over-the-top premium network that includes all live pay-per-views, scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library, is currently available in more than 180 countries. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Munich and Tokyo.
Additional information on WWE (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/.
Powell’s POV: This is a shocking turn of events and one that I never thought we would see. Bryan deserves a ton of credit for his persistence and I’m pleasantly surprised that WWE was wiling to overturn their initial diagnosis. This also provides hope for other athletes in that damage caused by head trauma can be reversed in some cases. Obviously, I assume we will be hearing more about this on tonight’s WWE Smackdown Live television show.
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My bullshit meter is off he wall here. What’s changed now from a year ago. I think the WWE doctor’s have been lying because DB,s influence is too strong and Vince is committed to get his boring idea over no matter what. It doesn’t make sense that he was cleared from every other Doctor he’s been to other than WWE’s The other Doctor’s have nothing to gain by clearing him.
No. Just no. Conspiracy theory bullshit is just that.
For instance, Su’a Cravens of the Redskins was cleared of his concussion by a team doctor nearly 16 months before his own doctor and specialist cleared him. It depends on who they are and what tests they’re running. This is still a very new field in modern medicine with few, if any, set standards.