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Daniel Bryan will defend the WWE Championship against Kofi Kingston in one of the most anticipated matches of WrestleMania 35 on April 7.
Five years ago, Bryan was the ultimate underdog heading into WrestleMania 30, where he defeated Triple H in the opening match of the night before winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat against Randy Orton and Batista in the main event.
Now, he finds himself in a match against somebody who, much like Bryan in 2014, has overcome authority figures and numerous obstacles to finally achieve his dream of challenging for WWE’s most prestigious title on the grand stage of WrestleMania.
Looking back at Bryan’s past experiences at WWE’s biggest event of the year, it is only natural that everybody points to the high of WrestleMania 30, aka ‘YestleMania’, but he has also suffered some lows at “The Show of Shows”.
In this article, let’s take a look at five of his most notable ‘Mania moments, taking into account both the good and the bad.
#5 Low: Demotion from the main PPV
Everybody remembers Daniel Bryan doing double-duty at WrestleMania 30, but did you know that he also competed in two matches at WrestleMania XXVII?
The #1 contender for the United States Championship at the time, he was originally due to face Sheamus in a title match on the main pay-per-view. However, the match was switched to before the event instead. Nowadays, that would not be such a terrible thing – at least the kickoff show is streamed online and on the WWE Network – but in 2011 the pre-show matches were simply dark matches.
The US title match, which had a Lumberjack stipulation, ended in a disqualification, leading to a Battle Royal. Bryan made it to the final two before he was eliminated by the victorious Great Khali.
Needless to say, this was definitely a career low for Bryan, especially as he built up a ton of momentum a few months earlier when he was rehired following his short-lived stint in The Nexus.
#4 Low: Losing in 18 seconds
One year on from Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus at WrestleMania XXVII, WWE booked the match again for WrestleMania XXVIII. This time, instead of being a United States Championship dark match, Royal Rumble winner Sheamus challenged World Heavyweight champion Bryan in the opening match of the night.
The memorable encounter lasted just 18 seconds after Bryan was distracted by a kiss from his storyline girlfriend, AJ Lee. Sheamus then sent him crashing to the mat with a Brogue Kick to get the 1-2-3, causing one of the most shocking moments in WrestleMania history.
While the defeat was obviously more of a ‘low’ than a ‘high’, WWE’s questionable decision to have Bryan – an accomplished wrestler who has competed in 90-minute matches in the past – lose in such a short amount of time only made the audience endear to him even more.
From that moment on, the “Yes! Movement” really took off, with fans supporting Bryan more than ever in an attempt to prove to WWE that he should be treated better.
#3 High: WrestleMania 30 triumph
Daniel Bryan teamed with Kane to retain the WWE Tag Team titles against Dolph Ziggler & Big E in a six-minute match at WrestleMania 29. The short encounter was not exactly a ‘high’ or ‘low’ point of Bryan’s career, so we’ll leave it off this list.
Moving on to WrestleMania 30, this was a night that WWE fans will likely remember forever. Not only did The Undertaker lose his WrestleMania undefeated streak against Brock Lesnar, but Bryan finally overcame the odds to defeat Triple H, then Randy Orton and Batista, to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
As we already alluded to, the manner of the 18-second defeat to Sheamus two years prior to WrestleMania 30 played a huge part in Bryan’s climb to the top, as fans hijacked segments and rallied for him to return to the title scene ahead of the likes of Orton, Batista, The Big Show and John Cena.
In the end, once CM Punk walked out on WWE and caused the company to drastically change their WrestleMania 30 plans, they were left with little choice but to give Bryan and the fans the moment that they all wanted.
#2 High: Intercontinental Championship win
WrestleMania 31 began with Daniel Bryan defeating Bad News Barrett, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust, Luke Harper and R-Truth in a seven-man ladder match to win the Intercontinental Championship for the one and only time in his career.
The build-up to the match felt very underwhelming, as Bryan had only recently returned from injury and it was considered somewhat of a demotion for him to be involved in a multi-man IC title match just one year after his huge moment at WrestleMania 30.
Still, despite the negativity heading into the event, this was an exciting match which featured lots of chaotic moments, from Barrett’s suplex on Stardust off the ladder to Harper’s powerbomb on Ambrose onto a ladder at ringside.
The finale was memorable, too, with Bryan trading several headbutts with Ziggler at the top of the ladder before unhooking the championship to win the match.
#1 High: WrestleMania 34 return
Daniel Bryan announced in February 2016 that he had been forced to retire from in-ring competition. After missing WrestleMania 32 and WrestleMania 33, it was then revealed in March 2018 that he had been cleared to return in time to compete at WrestleMania 34.
At the time, Bryan had been involved in multiple disagreements with fellow SmackDown Live authority figure Shane McMahon, while villainous duo Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn had been feuding with Shane O’Mac for several months.
With little time to build a storyline for Bryan, he was immediately inserted into Shane’s story, teaming up with the SmackDown Commissioner to face Owens & Zayn in a tag match in New Orleans – the same city where he won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 30.
The fan favourites won the match, with Bryan making Zayn submit to the Yes Lock. As part of the stipulation, Owens & Zayn remained fired from SmackDown Live.
