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Today, we look at a wrestler who is not only known as the king of the independent scene, or as the ‘indy darling’, but is now one of the hottest ‘superstars’ in the WWE. Spending nearly a decade traveling around the world, honing his craft, putting shows in front of crowds, no matter if they were in mere hundreds or thousands, he dedicated his life to the industry.
Working his way from nothing more than just an athletic ‘small guy’, he made a name for himself in the independent scene as the best wrestler on the planet. He had legendary feuds against the likes of Nigel McGuinness, Austin Aries and Samoa Joe. He is also one of the founding fathers of Ring of Honor, and wrestled on the very first show of the company. He is none other than the ‘American Dragon’, Bryan Danielson, better known to the WWE Universe as Daniel Bryan.
From humble beginnings to becoming the face of the biggest organization in the world, Daniel Bryan’s journey was anything but easy. Being the student of a technical genius such as William Regal, and the protégé of one of the greatest professionals of all time like Shawn Michaels put a lot of pressure on Bryan to make it big in a business which looks down on people who’re not 6 foot and over 260 pounds.
Bryan started his journey from the bottom, working his way up and was signed to a contract by the then WWE, who sent him to their developmental, but was released soon. This gave Bryan the opportunity to tour the world and put on great matches, as he picked up the monicker of the ‘American Dragon’. Bryan wrestled in Japan and came back to the United States, where he started performing for the newly formed Ring of Honor.
During his time in Ring of Honor, Danielson made a name for himself as the greatest technical wrestler in the world, putting on great matches against the likes of Austin Aries, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe. In ’05, Danielson won the RoH world championship, and had some outstanding 80 minute matches. It was no surprise that Danielson was named the ‘Most Outstanding Wrestler’ by Wrestling Observer for 6 years straight, from ’05 to ’10.
He has also been named the best technical wrestler in the world for 8 years straight, from ’05 to ’12. Danielson faced wrestlers from all over the world, and was involved in one of the greatest rivalries in Ring of Honor history against Nigel McGuinness, and unified the RoH World championship with RoH Pure championship. Danielson went on to be known as the biggest name in Ring of Honor history.
He was then signed by the WWE, and debuted during the first season of NXT. Although the fans expected Daniel Bryan to win the first season easily, he was eliminated, and then he returned as a member of Nexus. Although Bryan was fired after the ‘tie gate’, he came back to the organization and won the WWE United States championship, and at this point, people started to believe that Daniel Bryan could make it ‘big’ in the organization, something everyone was skeptical about, knowing the history of WWE with self made performers.
Bryan had a good run as the US Champion, but his biggest break came in WWE when he won the Smackdown Money in the Bank Ladder match in ’11, and cashed it in at the tail end of the year to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Daniel Bryan proved everyone wrong, and went on to become the face of the company.
Daniel Bryan had some outstanding matches against many competitors, and when CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan was announced for the WWE championship, all the wrestling fans became ecstatic. Punk and Bryan faced each other before in the independent scene, and in ’12, they were the top guys in the biggest sports entertainment company in the world. These two put on some great matches, and although Bryan was lost in the shuffle for the last part of ’12, this year can be his.
He is the hottest star in the WWE at the moment, and is scheduled to face John Cena for the WWE title at Summerslam. If there ever was a true ‘Rocky’ – esque story in professional wrestling, it had to be Danielson’s. Bryan had to work his way through everything, and nothing was handed to him. Despite being a ‘small’ guy, Bryan Danielson has managed to climb the corporate mountain, and despite not being made by the corporate machine, he has made a name for himself in the WWE. He is tipped as this generation’s greatest technical wrestler, and that earns him the number 3 spot in our list of 15 greatest technical wrestlers in the history of WWE.
