Daniel Bryan: When wrestling fans hear this name they think of an obnoxious superstar that people love to root against and who lost to Sheamus in 18 seconds at Wrestlemania. However, there was a time when Bryan was a scrappy wrestler who couldn't even make the Wrestlemania main card, even though he was the United States Champion. Critics always said that Daniel Bryan was too small, had no personality and looked too generic as seen below.
Daniel Bryan circa 2009
When Bryan was first signed to the company he started his tenure like every other new employee, in training. The training he received at FCW gave him the tools to build upon his already impressive arsenal of moves. The next stop for the American Dragon was NXT, a new show that WWE put out to find the next breakout star with rookies being trained and mentored by WWE superstars, or "pros". Now coming into NXT I heard all the hype of an independent wrestler who was trained by Shawn Michaels and wrestled all over the world and awed everyone who saw him wrestle, his name in the WWE, Daniel Bryan. As I saw the first episode and out came the rookies, out came a skinny, short and clean cut guy that didn't look anything like a professional wrestler. Bryans' pro The Miz, had the same thoughts as I did but, that is the only time the Miz and I agreed on this superstar. The first sign of greatness I saw from Bryan, when Chris Jericho challenged him to a match. I could just see the heart and determination from the rookie, granted he was working with one of the best workers in WWE history in Jericho. This is one of the best matches I had witnessed in quite some time.
From then on out I knew Daniel Bryan was going to be one of the greatest overall wrestlers of all time. Yet, because of his generic personality he was the one of the first ones eliminated from the competition and in part because he said something along the lines of not belonging in the competition. In retrospect I believe Bryan didn't belong in this competition, he deserved a spot on the main roster instead, but that'll come in time. The next big step in his career was the NXT winner Wade Barretts' group Nexus which consisted of the NXT season 1 rookies. The group looked to shake things up in the WWE, apparently when Nexus attacked Daniel Bryan took it too far. He took the tie of ring announcer and choked him with it, with WWE looking to tone down the violence in their wrestling shows they saw this as a firing offence and Bryan was gone the next day.
Choking out announcers not okay? Good to know!
There were a lot of people, including myself, who thought after the ninety day no compete clause we were going to see Bryan in TNA wrestling, the number two pro wrestling business in the United States. It turns out though, that he came back at Summerslam as the surprise member of Team WWE vs the Team Nexus, which WWE won. After that Bryan started a feud with the Miz, his NXT "Pro", which he won the U.S. Title from. After that Bryan just flew under the radar from feud to feud but nothing meaningful. That all changed though at Money in the Bank 2011 in which Daniel Bryan won the briefcase in the ladder match that gave him the opportunity to face any champion he wanted. The next episode of Smackdown Bryan stated he was going to save his opportunity for the main event at Wrestlemania 28. At the time Mark Henry was dominating the Smackdown brand and it seemed like no one could take the big man down. The only hope seemed to be the Big Show, who is 7 ft tall and over 450 lbs. As the two behemoths fought it seemed as though Bryan was always getting involved. At the TLC PPV it was Big Show vs. Mark Henry in a chairs match. Big Show won the match but, afterward Henry was angry and decided to attack Show with a chair. As Big show laid on the ground motionless Bryan came out and cashed in his money in the bank briefcase and won the World Heavyweight Championship.
Daniel Bryan winning the World Heavyweight Championship at TLC
After that win we started seeing a different side to Bryan. At the time of his win he was starting a partnership with WWE Diva A.J. Lee that really started developing into a dark relationship. Bryan would use A.J. to get an advantage by putting A.J. in danger at the cost to keep his World Heavyweight Championship against guys like Big Show, Mark Henry and Randy Orton. At one point Daniel Bryan pushed A.J. into the way of a charging Big Show, which severly injured the Diva, Show felt horrible for it for weeks and weeks and Bryan took advantage of it. Now as the tainted wins such as Disqualifications, count outs, and other various ways, Bryan kept getting more and more confident and started shouting Yes! Yes! Yes! over and over again. Then Wrestlemania came and he was set to face Sheamus for his championship in the opening match. The Match opened with Daniel giving A.J. a kiss and as he Turned around Sheamus hit his signature Brogue Kick and pinned him in a record 18 seconds.After that Daniel started blaming A.J. for losing that match and broke up with her which, in some peoples minds turned A.J. a little bit crazy. After his rematch with Sheamus at Extreme Rules ended not in his favor, he was involved in a beat the clock challenge to be the number one contender for the WWE championship in which he won.The WWE champion,CM Punk, and Bryan had a classic match the Over the Limit PPV that CM Punk ended up winning. The next couple of weeks were revolutionary for Bryan, Punk and the surprising A.J.. The three ended up in a love triangle that turned into what the fate of the WWE championship was going to be when it was announced that A.J. was going to be the special referee in their match up at Money in the Bank. A.J. started using Daniel Bryans' "catchphrase" Yes! against him and the crowd was using it against Bryan and also using it during the whole entire show which showed that Bryan was becoming very influential in the WWE. Bryan tried to swoon A.J. once again but was fooled and in the process got the entire WWE universe against him in a brilliant turn that almost didn't happen with the crowd trying to get behind him and Bryan denied them the whole way through. Bryan ended up losing fairly to Punk at Money in the Bank but he showed the whole world that he now has the personality to go along with his great in ring skills, to be a top superstar for years to come. And all I have to say to that is...... Yes! Yes! Yes!
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