Daniel Bryan retires: WWE star ends career due to concussions

'...maybe my brain wasn’t as OK as I thought it was'

(WWE.com)

WWE superstar Daniel Bryan has announced has retired because of repeat concussions over his Championship winning career.

The 34-year-old, multiple winner of the World Heavyweight Championship, as well as being a US Champion and Tag Team Champion with Kane, announced his 'effective immediate' decision on social media ahead of Raw on Monday night.

Speaking to the crowd in Seattle, some of whom were in tears, the ever-popular Bryan said: "I don’t want to be doing this any more than you don’t want me to be doing this."

Bryan has spent months attempting to make a return to the ring but while he was cleared by his own doctors, WWE concussion expert Dr Joseph Maroon refused his return.

"Within the first five months of my wrestling career, I’d already had three concussions," he said during a special retirment ceremony.

"For years after that, I would get a concussion here and there, or here, or there, and it gets to the point when you’ve been wrestling for 16 years that it adds up to a lot of concussions. It gets to a point where they tell you that you can’t wrestle anymore.

"I have loved this in a way that I have never loved anything else. But a week and a half ago I took a test that said maybe my brain wasn’t as OK as I thought it was. And I have a family to think about, and my wife and I want to start having kids soon.

"I’ve been angry, I’ve been sad, I’ve been frustrated, and all that. But when I woke up this morning, I felt nothing but gratitude.

"You guys got behind me in a way that made me feel like I was more than just me. And for that, I’m grateful."