5 backstage stories you might not know about Daniel Bryan

By Anirban
Modified May 22, 2021 19:02 IST
Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan is one of the most popular wrestlers to step into the ring. Ever since he first arrived in WWE, he has had a hardcore base of fans from his days wrestling in the independent scenes.

Over the years, he developed into one of the most well-liked superstars on the roster, even leading to a movement among the fans that forced WWE to change their original plans for WrestleMania 30. He was seen as one of the biggest underdogs, but his capabilities in the ring, and the natural charisma that he exuded, allowed him to become one of the top WWE stars of all time.

The fact that he fought back from what could have been a career-ending injury endeared him even further to the fans. He was a wrestler for the fans and even though WWE didn't originally picture him as a main event star, that's exactly what he became.

The following are five backstage stories about Daniel Bryan that you may not be aware of.

#5 Daniel Bryan confronted Triple H about stopping a match too early

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Daniel Bryan is known for his love of wrestling. The superstar has always competed at the highest level and has hardly ever held back in the ring. His devotion to wrestling has caused him issues at times, as a result of which he suffered over his career with multiple injuries.

However, there was a time when one of his matches was stopped, and Bryan confronted Triple H about it.

Daniel Bryan was facing Randy Orton in a No Disqualification match when Bryan suffered a stinger. It became clear that Bryan had suffered an injury, but it was not apparent how serious the situation was at the time.

The referee called the match off and Bryan was furious with Triple H making the decision. He confronted him backstage and had an argument, but Bryan would later admit that he was in the wrong on that occasion.

#4 Daniel Bryan always wanted to wrestle Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar is one of the top stars of all time, and Daniel Bryan always wanted to wrestle him.

In fact, it was one of his career goals. There was a match planned between the two wrestlers in 2014, but thanks to injuries, Bryan had to withdraw from it. The two were supposed to face each other at SummerSlam, but John Cena replaced Bryan in the match instead. The beating that Cena took in that match has gone down in legend, and originally, Bryan was supposed to be demolished in a similar manner.

However, this did not mean that Daniel Bryan gave up on his dream of facing Brock Lesnar. After his miraculous return from injury in 2018, Bryan eventually turned heel and won the WWE Championship. He would then face Lesnar at Survivor Series, and the match between the two received critical acclaim.

Bryan lost to Lesnar in a battle that lasted for almost 19 minutes, but came out looking better than any fan thought he would.

#3 Daniel Bryan's memories of his win at WrestleMania 30 are marred

One of the best moments of Daniel Bryan's career came at WrestleMania 30, when thanks to the Yes Movement, he overcame all odds to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the end of the show. The moment was iconic and something that fans look back on even today when thinking about the greatest moments of Bryan's career.

However, for Bryan, WrestleMania 34 and WrestleMania 35 hold a lot more value. Unfortunately for him, his WrestleMania 30 win has been marred by quite a few tragedies. The young child everyone in WWE loved, Connor Michalek, passed away shortly after the event.

Daniel Bryan's father also passed away around the same time when the superstar's issues with injuries came to the forefront.

Instead, Bryan prefers to focus on the WrestleMania event where he returned from injury, and also when he was able to put over Kofi Kingston in one of the most emotional WrestleMania moments in recent memory.

WrestleMania 30 will always be iconic when it comes to Daniel Bryan's accomplishments. Unfortunately for him, it will not be the one event he can look back on with fondness.

#2 Daniel Bryan was distraught after being fired from WWE

The Nexus invasion of the WWE main roster is one of the most iconic moments for the wrestlers involved, including Daniel Bryan.

Unfortunately for Bryan, things went awry and he ended up getting fired from WWE temporarily thanks to his actions during a ringside destruction segment.

The Nexus invasion was completely chaotic as the group of wrestlers came out of nowhere and started to demolish everyone there. This took place in 2010, during which time Bryan was still new to WWE. While others destroyed different aspects of the ringside area, Bryan used Justin Roberts' own tie to choke him.

Unfortunately, advertisers were not happy, and backstage, the management had to take action. Bryan thought that the incident would blow over, but it didn't. Instead, he got a phone call from Vince McMahon learning that he had been released.

He would be hired back, but according to Arn Anderson, Bryan was bewildered about the whole thing.

"I was backstage and from a distance, I was eyeballing this thing and I could see this was a big deal," said Anderson. "The blank look on Daniel Bryan's face told me he had no idea he had done anything wrong. He had certainly not done anything wrong on purpose. He was just sitting there with his eyes bugged out of his head going, 'What did I do, what did I do?' He wasn't saying that but if a VH1 bubble popped up in his head, that's what it would say. 'What did I do wrong, I just did what I was told!'"

After Daniel Bryan was hired again, he went on to find a lot of success in WWE.

#1 Vince McMahon was furious at Daniel Bryan's costume change

Daniel Bryan once fell foul of the WWE Chairman by not informing him about a change in costume in advance.

Things in WWE have to go exactly a certain way if they are to live up to Vince McMahon's expectations. Most changes in appearances, including hairstyles and clothes, have to be approved by Vince McMahon before they can go ahead.

Unfortunately for Bryan, he didn't take Vince McMahon's permission ahead of changing his usual entrance jacket to a green one, when he was set to face CM Punk in a WWE Championship Match at Money in the Bank 2012.

Vince McMahon was furious with Daniel Bryan and shouted at the referee through his earpiece to get him to take off the jacket. McMahon also shouted at Bryan when the latter got backstage, and the superstar never wore the jacket again on WWE television.

No matter how big a star, Vince McMahon likes to have a final say in their look before they present themselves to the audience. Bryan managed to learn this the hard way.

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