Report: Daniel Bryan's injury on Monday Night Raw was legit

Well this is discouraging news in one sense but somewhat encouraging news in another: Daniel Bryan's "stinger" injury that he suffered during last night's (June 17, 2013) episode of Monday Night Raw at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during his match with Randy Orton was legitimate.

And the decision made to stop the match was a shoot.

That's according to Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer in today's Daily Update:

Daniel Bryan was injured in his match with Randy Orton last night and the finish was essentially a shoot as they stopped a match that Daniel was scheduled to win. The story online that he suffered a stinger is legit.

For its part, WWE played up the story with an article on the company website featuring comments from Triple H on putting the health of his performers first followed by an apparent kayfabe confrontation with Bryan, who wasn't happy about his match getting stopped.

An excerpt:

Among the most controversial moments of a wild Raw in Michigan was the unexpected stoppage of the Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton contest after the submission expert suffered a "stinger" in the middle of the bout and was deemed unfit to compete by WWE officials, with the final decision coming from WWE COO Triple H himself.

"Whether anybody likes it or not, it's my job as COO of this company," confirmed Triple H to WWE.com. "I made the call that Daniel Bryan's health was important and I called the match."

Bryan - currently battling a self-imposed perception that he is a "weak link" - seemed less than happy at the result on air, and in fact, he let The Game know exactly how he felt once he stepped backstage.

"I saw Daniel face-to-face with Triple H, nose to nose, screaming at him, saying that the match should not have been stopped and he'd worked through several injuries over 13 years," said referee John Cone, who followed Bryan into the locker room area.

There's no word on the severity of the injury and whether or not it will force Bryan to miss any time. He's currently being advertised for the SmackDown taping later on tonight in a match against Dean Ambrose.

As always, Cagesiders, stay tuned.