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Daniel Bryan is widely regarded as one of the best in-ring performers that the pro wrestling/sports entertainment world has ever seen.
Since joining WWE in 2010, the former American Dragon has competed in over 1,000 matches and faced over 200 different opponents during his time working for Vince McMahon’s company.
Daniel Bryan has been involved in plenty of main-event storylines in WWE, most notably his journey to WrestleMania 30, while he has also been on the receiving end of some questionable pitches from WWE’s higher-ups and creative team.
Anybody who has watched Daniel Bryan in out-of-character interviews will know that the man behind the WWE persona, Bryan Danielson, is not one to cause a fuss, but even he has occasionally disagreed with WWE’s decision-makers when they have attempted to book him in certain storylines.
In this article, let’s take a look at three WWE Superstars that Daniel Bryan requested to work with, as well as two that he did not request to work with.
#5 Daniel Bryan requested to work with Dolph Ziggler
After being forced to vacate the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in June 2014, Daniel Bryan returned to in-ring action in January 2015.
Despite being the biggest fan favorite in the 2015 Royal Rumble, The Leader of the Yes Movement was eliminated midway through the match, which meant his WrestleMania 31 opponent seemed unclear just two months before the event.
Another top WWE babyface at the time, Dolph Ziggler, began campaigning for a WrestleMania 31 match against Daniel Bryan on Twitter.
Daniel Bryan, whose popularity with fans played a huge part in him main-eventing WrestleMania 30 one year earlier, attempted to get fans behind the idea of a one-on-one match with Ziggler on WWE’s biggest stage.
WWE’s official website even reported on Daniel Bryan and Ziggler requesting a match against each other at WrestleMania 31, but the company’s decision-makers opted to book both Superstars in a seven-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship.
Although the one-on-one WrestleMania match never happened, Daniel Bryan still had a memorable moment with Ziggler when he repeatedly headbutted his rival at the top of the ladder in the closing stages of the match.
#4 Daniel Bryan did not request to work with Sheamus
The biggest moment of Daniel Bryan’s WWE career came at WrestleMania 30 when he defeated Randy Orton and Batista in the main event to finally conquer The Authority and become WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Originally, WWE management wanted the following three matches to take place at the event instead: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus, Randy Orton vs. Batista (WWE World Heavyweight Championship), and CM Punk vs. Triple H.
Due to Punk’s unplanned departure in January 2014, the WrestleMania card had a drastic reshuffle, with Daniel Bryan facing Triple H in the opening match of the night for a spot in the main event. Sheamus, meanwhile, had to settle for a place in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Speaking on NotSam Wrestling in 2015, Daniel Bryan recalled that he wanted to face Triple H or Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 30, and he was disappointed when Vince McMahon informed him that he would take on Sheamus for the third time in a WrestleMania match.
“When Vince pulled me into his office, ‘I’d like to talk to you about your WrestleMania match.’ I was like, ‘Ooh, what’s this going to be?’ ‘I’d like you to wrestle… dun, dun, dun… Sheamus...’”
Daniel Bryan clarified that he likes wrestling Sheamus, but he did not think fans would want to see them go one-on-one again after they already had underwhelming experiences at WrestleMania 27 (kickoff show) and WrestleMania 28 (18-second match).
#3 Daniel Bryan requested to work with Drew Gulak
In October 2019, Daniel Bryan made it clear on Twitter that he wanted to work with Drew Gulak after both Superstars were assigned to the SmackDown brand in the WWE Draft.
Prior to that, the two men had never faced each other in an official match, with their only previous in-ring encounter coming as part of the chaotic 50-man Greatest Royal Rumble in 2018.
Although Gulak initially struggled to be taken seriously on SmackDown, his fortunes turned around in early 2020 when he became involved in a storyline with Daniel Bryan.
Daniel Bryan defeated Gulak via referee’s decision in their first meeting at Elimination Chamber. However, Gulak still emerged with a lot of credit and momentum from the match, leading to him becoming a mentor for the former WWE Champion.
Gulak and Daniel Bryan joined forces to feud with The Artist Collective (Cesaro, Sami Zayn, and Shinsuke Nakamura) before and after WrestleMania 36, where Zayn defeated The Leader of the Yes Movement to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
Since then, Daniel Bryan and Gulak also faced each other in the Intercontinental Championship tournament in May 2020, with Bryan picking up the win.
#2 Daniel Bryan did not request to work with AJ Lee
Former WWE creative team member Kevin Eck revealed in a since-deleted blog post that he came up with the idea to put Daniel Bryan in a relationship storyline with AJ Lee after he won the 2011 Money in the Bank ladder match.
In the months following his big victory, Daniel Bryan lost a series of matches and it looked as though he was going to become the first person in WWE to unsuccessfully cash in his Money in the Bank contract.
Eck felt that Daniel Bryan needed a new storyline to make him a worthy future World Champion, and his idea about a possible relationship with AJ Lee was well received by other people on the creative team.
As Eck recalled, Daniel Bryan was not too keen on the suggestion due to his history of relationship storylines.
“Other people on the team seemed to like the relationship idea, and I approached Bryan and AJ at TV one day to discuss it with them. AJ loved it, but Bryan's reaction surprised me. He politely but firmly said he'd rather not be in a storyline with a Diva since he had done one about a year earlier with the Bellas and Gail Kim and he felt it did nothing for his career.” [H/T Wrestling News World]
Daniel Bryan ended up benefiting from having AJ Lee as his on-screen girlfriend, especially at the start of his reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion in December 2011.
The relationship turned sour four months later at WrestleMania 28 when Lee accidentally distracted Daniel Bryan by kissing him before his match against Sheamus, who immediately hit a Brogue Kick to pick up the win in 18 seconds.
#1 Daniel Bryan requested to work with Gran Metalik
Before “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt pulled out Daniel Bryan’s hair on an episode of SmackDown in November 2019, the WrestleMania 30 main-eventer originally intended to grow out his hair to set up a future Hair vs. Mask match.
Speaking to Yahoo! Sports in January 2019, Daniel Bryan praised WWE’s 205 Live roster, particularly Gran Metalik, and said he would like to face the Lucha House Party member in a match with a Hair vs. Mask stipulation one day.
"It's not this selfless thing, it's actually a selfish thing. I want to wrestle the best guys on the planet. Some of those best guys are on 205 Live. We have Gran Metalik here and he's one of the best luchadores in the world and he's on that show. Man, would I love to wrestle that guy in a Mask vs. Hair match. That's sometimes where my passion gets ahead of me."
As of the time of writing, Daniel Bryan and Gran Metalik have still never faced each other in a WWE match.
However, according to Wrestling News Co, Daniel Bryan has had an influence behind the scenes on SmackDown in the summer of 2020, and he was reportedly the person who pitched the Intercontinental Championship Fatal 4-Way No.1 contender’s match between Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Shorty G, and Drew Gulak.
Metalik won the match and earned an Intercontinental Championship opportunity against AJ Styles.
