Did WWE Really Release Bryan Danielson?, Frustration Over TNA Release

— As was broken during Sunday’s TNA Slammiversary pay-per-view, Roxxi found out about the added career stipulation–as well as TNA’s plans to legitimacy release her–upon arriving to the arena. She was said to be very upset, and she received some sympathy from TNA colleagues who were unhappy with how the situation was handled.

— The Bryan Danielson-WWE situation continues stirring discussion among wrestling fans and insiders. What initially appeared to be a storyline soon was identified as reality by high-level internal WWE sources, but as new elements (including John Cena’s comments on Twitter) develop, there is more and more skepticism about how real it truly is.

F4WOnline.com, which first reported that Bryan Danielson’s Friday WWE release as legitimate amid a general wave of assumption that it was a storyline, is now saying the “best” move is to assume the situation is a work. In addition to the common sense rationale and John Cena’s Twitter posts, both of which suggest that a worked release is being used to develop a future storyline, the outlet also connects the lack of clarity regarding why Danielson was fired to the possibility that the firing never really happened.

The original story was that a high-level, outside WWE partner (believed to be a sponsor or someone in a television or media network) complained about Bryan Danielson’s “tie choke” on Justin Roberts and WWE’s effort to “make nice” with the influencer involved releasing Danielson. But no news on the identity of the entity nor a reason the entity singled out the tie choke as a particularly heinous visual display has emerged, indicating that the complaint might not have been real.

It should be noted that other sources are reporting Danielson’s firing was actually in response to breaking an internal, post-Chris Benoit tragedy rule that no wrestler is to use an object to simulate strangulation. The possibility that he was fired for that reason has not been wholly discredited, although F4WOnline.com creates doubt, noting that “it wasn’t something to be fired over” and that the fact that it made the air means the directors and producers, who were far more likely to know the rule than Danielson, a relative newcomer to WWE television, did not see it as a tragic violation of company policy.

The situation thus still remains largely unclear. Obviously, if Danielson returns on television tonight, it was a work. But his absence from RAW should not, on the contrary, be considered “proof” that his firing was legitimate, as the situation could be part of a longer term angle.

Source: F4WOnline.com