Thank you, Bryan Danielson.

[The Natural]

I made one for Sting and wanted to do the same for Bryan Danielson.

I’ve been a fan of wrestling since a young boy and Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan imo is the greatest wrestler of all time. Bryan Danielson can do it all from match quality (his biggest attribute, what a wrestler), promos, face or heel, comedy, brawl, commentator and authority figure. Still, there are things I wish Bryan wouldn't do. The headbutt charge, the diving headbutt and especially THAT sell he sometimes does. Makes me worry knowing Danielson's history with concussions and neck injuries requiring surgeries.

I became a fan of Bryan Danielson in 2004 via Ring of Honor Wrestling. Bryan Danielson as Ring of Honor World Champion in September 2005-December 2006 declaring himself the “Best Wrestler in the World!”, getting the ring announcer to add an extra note when announcing him in the ring and “I have till five!” The greatest Ring of Honor World Champion ever. One of the best world title reigns in wrestling history.

Bryan Danielson became Daniel Bryan when he joined WWE making his TV debut in NXT, February 2010. There were setbacks for Bryan, he was fired for choking Justin Roberts with his tie and spitting on John Cena on WWE RAW, June 2010. Bryan was brought back at WWE SummerSlam 2010. After successfully cashing in the WWE Money in the Bank 2011 for The Big Show's WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WWE TLC 2011 (I for sure thought he'd be the first to fail), Bryan started shouting “Yes!” and raising his arms upwards. This caught on big time and outside of wrestling with people doing that. As a baddie, Bryan would shout “No!” back at the “Yes!” chants. I had fun with Bryan and Kane's Team Hell No odd couple as WWE World Tag Team Champions and the funny Anger Management skits/Hug it Out match. Only Daniel Bryan could pull off the Hug it Out match.

I woke up to watch Daniel Bryan defeat John Cena cleanly for the WWE Championship in a classic match at WWE SummerSlam 2013. What a way to debut a new finisher, the running knee putting down the biggest name. Bryan went on to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the main event of WWE WrestleMania XXX beating Randy Orton and Batista, the fans demanded his inclusion in the main event through protests. Bryan vacated the WWE World Heavyweight Championship due to injury in June 2014 and came back in January 2015. For my 30th birthday that year, my Little Sis’ bought tickets for me and Dad to go to WWE Live, 12th April 2015. My first time at any wrestling show. and Daniel Bryan was there making it even better! I’ll always remember that day. Two days later Bryan had a tag team match on WWE Smackdown Live, 14th April 2015. and was pulled off the European Tour, it would be his last match as he had to retire, February 2016. However Daniel Bryan was cleared to in-ring competition in March 2018! We are so lucky to get this second chapter which reinforced my opinion Bryan Danielson is the GOAT.

Daniel Bryan regained the WWE Championship the week of WWE Survivor Series 2018 hitting AJ Styles with a low blow followed up by the running knee. The New Daniel Bryan was more aggressive in the ring, stomping people in the face, killed the Yes! Movement and cutting great promos. The promos chastising people about the environment, consumerism and animal welfare. Daniel Bryan is the planet’s champion and introduced an eco-friendly WWE Championship belt. This was one of my favourite incarnations of Daniel Bryan, maybe #1. Shame it didn't last longer.

I turned the air blue watching AEW All Out 2021 live as it was expected Bryan Danielson would debut there but Adam Cole came out. Thankfully Bryan debuted two minutes after. The amount of amazing matches he's had since September 2021-August 2024. I have to single out Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega at AEW Grand Slam Dynamite 2021, vs. Hangman Adam Page at AEW Winter is Coming Dynamite 2021, vs. MJF at AEW Revolution 2023, vs. Ricky Starks at AEW All Out 2023, vs. Zack Sabre Jr at AEW WrestleDream 2023 which is my pick for the best AEW match ever and vs. Will Ospreay at AEW Dynasty 2024. We even got to see Bryan Danielson wrestle in NJPW and CMLL. My dream match for years was Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada and we got it twice at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 and NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18.

At AEW All In 2024, Swerve Strickland defends his AEW World Championship vs. Bryan Danielson who puts his career on the line. I'm really hoping Danielson wins having never held the belt before. If he doesn't, the end of his full time career but I don't think he'll ever stop wrestling. I can't see him leaving AEW for his bond with Tony Khan either, his freedom to wrestle in other companies and gets to bleed.

Thank you for the memories, Bryan Danielson. The GOAT. Hope I get to meet you one day.

Thanks for reading. Sorry it's so long. Touch typist.

Edited August 18 by The Natural

[The Natural]

My top 30 Bryan Danielson matches:

30. Bryan Danielson vs. Low Ki. ROH Round Robin Challenge 2002.

29. AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan. WWE Smackdown Live, 6th June 2020. My 2020 WWE MOTY.

28. Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar. WWE Survivor Series 2018.

27. Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk. WWE Over The Limit 2012.

26. Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Kane vs. Sheamus vs. Heath Slater vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Sin Cara. WWE Money in the Bank 2011.

25. Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley. AEW Revolution 2022.

24. Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada. AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023.

23. Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong. ROH Vendetta 2005.

22. Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns. WWE Smackdown Live, 30th April 2021.

21. Daniel Bryan/Kane/Ryback vs. Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns. WWE TLC 2012.

20. The New Daniel Bryan vs. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jeff Hardy. WWE Elimination Chamber 2019.

19. Bryan Danielson/Eddie Kingston/Jon Moxley/Santana/Ortiz vs. Chris Jericho/Daniel Garcia/Jake Hager/Angelo Parker/Matt Menard. AEW Double or Nothing 2022. *****.

18. Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki. AEW The Buy In: Rampage, 15th October 2021. *****.

17. Bryan Danielson vs. Adam Page. AEW Dynamite, 6th January 2022. *****.

16. Daniel Bryan vs. Antonio Cesaro. WWE RAW, 22nd July 2013. *****.

15. Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus. WWE Extreme Rules 2012. *****.

14. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista. WWE WrestleMania XXX. *****.

13. Bryan Danielson vs. Will Ospreay. AEW Dynasty 2024. *****.

12. Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA. ROH Glory by Honor V: Night Two, 2006. *****.

11. Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18. *****.

10. Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima. ROH Manhattan Mayhem II 2007. *****. My 2007 MOTY.

9. Bryan Danielson/Samoa Joe/Adam Peace/BJ Whitmer/Homicide vs. Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli/Necro Butcher/Eddie Kingston/Nate Webb. ROH Death Before Dishonor IV. *****. My MOTY for 2006.

8. Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks. AEW All Out 2023. *****.

7. MJF vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Revolution 2023. *****.

6. Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Dynamite Winter is Coming, 15th December 2021. *****.

5. Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka 2024. *****.

4. The New Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles. WWE TLC 2018. *****.

3. Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega. AEW Dynamite, 22nd September 2021. *****. My 2021 MOTY.

2. Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. AEW WrestleDream 2023. *****. My 2023 MOTY.

1. Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena. WWE SummerSlam 2013. *****. My 2013 MOTY.

Edited August 18 by The Natural

[Gordi the recovering AEW f]

Best professional wrestler of his generation, by a mile. Which is REALLY saying something. I have only met him a handful of times but in my experience he's just ss good of a dude as he is a professional wrestler. We'll all be a little worse off, as wrestling fans, without him around as a full time wrestler. But I can confidently say that most of us here certainly appreciated what we had in terms of enjoying his matches etc etc. Not a case where "You don't know what you got till it's gone." We knew. And how lucky, how blessed, are we that we got that whole rich AEW chapter of his career to enjoy? Just look at Natch's list. Good Lord! What a body of work. And we got to enjoy it.

Thank you, Bryan!

Edited August 18 by Gordi the recovering AEW f

[Gorman]

Very blessed that I got to call AmDrag's Iron Man match with Doug Williams in the main event of ROH Scramble Madness.

Also, thanks to Bryan for letting me borrow his watch for the 60-minute match between Samoa Joe and CM Punk at World Title Classic.

[zendragon]

I wonder if Flair appearing in AEW ghost of xmas future style contributed to his decision? 

[twiztor]

excellent write-up and list, @The Natural. crazy of the AEW representation in your top 10, but also hard to argue. And it's pretty amazing seeing the variety of opponents on that list. Just another way to show Danielson's greatness. 

What are your Dragon time machine dream matches? 

[The Natural]

9 hours ago, twiztor said:

excellent write-up and list, @The Natural. crazy of the AEW representation in your top 10, but also hard to argue. And it's pretty amazing seeing the variety of opponents on that list. Just another way to show Danielson's greatness. 

What are your Dragon time machine dream matches? 

Cheers, mate. Appreciate that.

Great question. Bryan Danielson vs. Bret Hart is definitely #1 by far.

Others: Bryan Danielson vs. Kenta Kobashi, Bryan Danielson vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Guerrero, Bryan Danielson vs. Gunther, Bryan Danielson vs. The Undertaker, Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Steamboat, Bryan Danielson vs. The Undertaker and Bryan Danielson vs. Kurt Angle.

Edited August 19 by The Natural

[The Natural]

Thanks everyone.

[Log]

This is a really nice tribute. It's too bad Danielson can't see it since Tony Khan has him bound and gagged in the bowels of Wembley Stadium while his goons force the title belt onto him.

I need to rewatch the Cena Summerslam match some time. I think the post-match stuff colored my opinion of it at the time. I liked it, but came away disappointed. In hindsight, it actually probably added to him getting more over and led to the great WMXXX ending.

[The Natural]

32 minutes ago, Log said:

This is a really nice tribute. It's too bad Danielson can't see it since Tony Khan has him bound and gagged in the bowels of Wembley Stadium while his goons force the title belt onto him.

I need to rewatch the Cena Summerslam match some time. I think the post-match stuff colored my opinion of it at the time. I liked it, but came away disappointed. In hindsight, it actually probably added to him getting more over and led to the great WMXXX ending.

Cheers, mate.

I've always loved Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena from SummerSlam 2013 for a number of reasons:

• Daniel Bryan was the hottest wrestler in the world.
• The sports entertainer vs the wrestler.
• The callback to a promo in the build to the match Daniel Bryan made about Antonio Inoki and other wrestlers in Japan slapping each other to fire them up but he wouldn't slap Cena as he isn't a wrestler.
• In the match John Cena slaps Bryan a few times but Bryan won't slap him back for the above reason but then does and wins the exchange.
• The debut of the running knee. What a way to get over what became a finisher. I never thought Bryan would beat John Cena clean as a sheet.
• Randy Orton casting in the MITB contract successfully sucked but it didn't take away the fact that Daniel Bryan got to hold the WWE Championship for a few minutes unlike some who never won it period and he pinned the biggest star clean. Very few ever have.

[Technico Support]

I’ve only seen Danielson wrestle live once, which is weird, but what a match — Danielson & Joe vs KENTA & Marufuji for ROH in Basketball City.

[twiztor]

14 hours ago, The Natural said:

Cheers, mate. Appreciate that.

Great question. Bryan Danielson vs. Bret Hart is definitely #1 by far.

Others: Bryan Danielson vs. Kenta Kobashi, Bryan Danielson vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Guerrero, Bryan Danielson vs. Gunther, Bryan Danielson vs. The Undertaker, Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Steamboat, Bryan Danielson vs. The Undertaker and Bryan Danielson vs. Kurt Angle.

i was sure Bret Hart would make the list. Ditto Kurt Angle. surprised to not see Owen. Great call on Steamboat.

Can you watch Benoit matches, or did his later actions taint his whole career for you? i'm guessing the latter, as i have to imagine he'd be on the list otherwise. 

with Taker being listed twice, i'm imagining that you wanted to see them square off at different points in their careers. So, 2006 MMA-influenced Taker vs Danielson in a match that gets people re-evaluating Taker's actual skills. But also, grey suit/purple gloves wooden Taker, just to see what Dragon could get out of him. 

[AxB]

Danielson was able to have an entertaining match with Kamala in 2006, so he could have gotten something out of no-seller Taker.

[SturmCRF]

I think I've seen him live three times.

The NOAH Coventry show in 2008, where he teamed with Eddie Edwards against KENTA and Ishimori, which I haven't seen since and remember being incredible. I got him to sign an ROH DVD before the show, obviously seemed like a great guy in our extremely brief interaction, I was too shy for an extended chat and also I felt like a bit of a fraud as I'd barely seen him wrestle at that point and only really knew him by reputation.

The second one was his comeback match at Wrestlemania in 2018 (with Shane vs Kevin and Sami) which was not much of a match but hey, it was historic.

Then he had a match with AJ Styles on Smackdown the following week, which I remember being a typical WWE bait and switch, give nothing away non finish load of bullshit, but Cagematch tells me was great while it lasted.

I would possibly have gone to see him at Wembley on Sunday, but ironically AEW have driven me away by putting such an exciting, must see match in the main event. Last year it was only really the pedantic completionist in me that had any mild regret going home before MJF vs Cole to avoid the Wembley exit hellscape. This year, I couldn't possibly leave before Danielson vs Swerve finishes, but can't leave my parents on babysitting duty till the early hours while we stand in a 50,000 person queue, so we'll be watching it on Fite instead.

[StuntmanCrowley]

Excellent post Natural.  I'm honestly a bit misty at the prospect of this being Danielson's last match ever.

 

My first experience seeing Dragon was, and I absolutely consider myelf lucky in my fandom for this, was at the very first ROH show, live in Philly the day after my birthday in 2002.

 

Ki v Dragon v Daniels.  To say my mind was blown was/is an understatement and that match and show is the backbone for my preference in wrestling.  I hadalways been a death match guy, as I was attending every ROH show I could, I was simultaneously hitting up CZW every month.  Dragon was far and away better than anyone else in ring and he always has been and while i still love DMs, his presence alone shifted me towards workrate..  As a fan, it's been absolutely an honor to witness the man's career from beginning to end.

Edited August 21 by StuntmanCrowley

[Go2Sleep]

Surprised to see no Nigel matches on the list. Their match at the ROH 6th anniversary show was one of the best story-telling and character work matches of all time.

My best Danielson memory was being at WM 30. Enough said.

Dream matches are numerous, but ultimately Danielson is always best against guys who are stiff as hell but can still work the mat. So Walter, Finlay, and yeah... Benoit would top my list there.

Prime Shawn, Malenko, and crazy old-man Flair would be my less common picks.

[The Natural]

On 8/20/2024 at 1:54 AM, twiztor said:

i was sure Bret Hart would make the list. Ditto Kurt Angle. surprised to not see Owen. Great call on Steamboat.

Can you watch Benoit matches, or did his later actions taint his whole career for you? i'm guessing the latter, as i have to imagine he'd be on the list otherwise. 

with Taker being listed twice, i'm imagining that you wanted to see them square off at different points in their careers. So, 2006 MMA-influenced Taker vs Danielson in a match that gets people re-evaluating Taker's actual skills. But also, grey suit/purple gloves wooden Taker, just to see what Dragon could get out of him. 

Thanks, mate. Great shout on Owen Hart. 

You're guess is right, I can't watch Chris Benoit anymore and see him in the same light after the double murder suicide. This is coming from someone who idolized Chris Benoit: he was in my top five wrestlers of all time, my username was The Crippler here from September 2005-June 2007 and I was so made up when I won a signed Chris Benoit picture. I framed it for my wall but took it down where it's remained in a folder ever since.

Again, you're right there's two iterations of The Undertaker I'd like to see Bryan Danielson against, the original 1990-1994 Undertaker in grey but more so the 2006-2010 Undertaker made up of Biker 'Taker/Dead Man 'Taker.

[The Natural]

On 8/20/2024 at 3:42 PM, StuntmanCrowley said:

Excellent post Natural.  I'm honestly a bit misty at the prospect of this being Danielson's last match ever.

 

My first experience seeing Dragon was, and I absolutely consider myelf lucky in my fandom for this, was at the very first ROH show, live in Philly the day after my birthday in 2002.

 

Ki v Dragon v Daniels.  To say my mind was blown was/is an understatement and that match and show is the backbone for my preference in wrestling.  I hadalways been a death match guy, as I was attending every ROH show I could, I was simultaneously hitting up CZW every month.  Dragon was far and away better than anyone else in ring and he always has been and while i still love DMs, his presence alone shifted me towards workrate..  As a fan, it's been absolutely an honor to witness the man's career from beginning to end.

Thank you, StuntmanCrowley.

Great you were witness in person to a historic show, Ring of Honour's first, The Era of Honour Begins. Bryan Danielson vs. Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels. Said match narrowly fell off my list. With hindsight, I made a mistake. Danielson's back catalogue is something else so hard to narrow it down.

[The Natural]

On 8/20/2024 at 5:54 PM, Go2Sleep said:

Surprised to see no Nigel matches on the list. Their match at the ROH 6th anniversary show was one of the best story-telling and character work matches of all time.

My best Danielson memory was being at WM 30. Enough said.

Dream matches are numerous, but ultimately Danielson is always best against guys who are stiff as hell but can still work the mat. So Walter, Finlay, and yeah... Benoit would top my list there.

Prime Shawn, Malenko, and crazy old-man Flair would be my less common picks.

I need to watch that aforementioned Danielson/McGuinness ROH 6th Anniversary Show again. When I made my list, it was all on memory but some matches I remember more clearly than others. I couldn't include the most famous/infamous Danielson/McGuinness ROH Unified 2006 match for the stupid headbutt the post spot.

Great fantasy shouts for Bryan Danielson vs. Shawn Michaels, Dean Malenko and crazy old man Ric Flair.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

This weekend will be emotional for me if it really is the end for AmDrag. The WWE retirement was rough for me. It's not an exaggeration to say I would not be watching wrestling if it weren't for Danielson and Punk. One of those is currently unwatchable for me. The other is putting his career on the line and I'm not sure which way the match will go. 

I was a WWF/E fan after WCW was shut down. I bought magazines and knew about other wrestling but wasn't sure how to seek it out. My friend's cousin was your prototypical Internet fan and one day we were over there. The first ROH show had just showed up in the mail. Honestly, a lot of it lost me at the time. It was too much to take in. That main event was sick though. I started hanging out with the cousin, he made me comp tapes, I got on here, I got on CrazyMax. Dragon became THE GUY in my book. Once I moved for college, I just stopped watching. Life got in the way. 

I heard from my friend that Danielson was in WWE, alongside Punk. I would check it out but the fandom didn't kick back in until 2010. From there it's been deeper than it was as a kid. Dragon has been a constant in that time. WrestleMania 30 is one of the most memorable moments in my fandom. We watched at a friend's apartment and I lost my shit. The bar right below us was showing it and you could hear "YES" chants. That's a night where the magic of pro wrestling really shined through. 

[The Natural]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rsX1ATcyQxU&pp=ygUURGFuaWVsIGJyeWFuIG1vbnN0ZXI%3D

Daniel Bryan, Monster. WWE WrestleMania XXX. My pick for the best video package ever.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mUj4RRmPx2M&pp=ygUTYWV3IGJyeWFuIGRhbmllbHNvbg%3D%3D

AEW's to Bryan Danielson is up there as well.

[NikoBaltimore]

First time I heard about Danielson was PWI when they featured him and Spanky.  AFAIK he was the first indy wrestler that I was ever interested in so when I eventually heard he was doing ROH it made me want to at least look it up since I didn't have the DVDs yet.  I don't recall where I got the DVD but I loved the crap out of Era of Honor Begins so ROH was definitely my thing.  I didn't have the social circles to go to the shows and Philly seemed far away at the time.  But while I went to a show or two before my favorite of the bunch was the Dominion show.  He wasn't advertised so when they announced we were getting Danielson/Nigel I lost my shit.  I never looked up how this stacks up compared to their others but I was really into the whole thing and had a great time.

I haven't seen other Danielson matches live but did catch him on WWE shows a few times.  I don't recall many classic matches as if he was on it was regular TV matches or angle advancement stuff.  But I was there for his return at WM34.  It was exciting seeing him back but the tag structure felt way off for me.  I get the tag was meant to ease him into things but it wasn't the type of return I was looking for.  But I was happy to see him regardless.  Oh, yeah and then there's AEW Grand Slam.  I've covered that before but holy fucking shit man.  I decided that day unless there's some dream match I just can't/won't go back to Arthur Ashe.  The whole day was so special with a packed crowd losing their minds for this match and I still remember the piercing sound when he was doing the "Yes!" kicks.

Aside from that Natural covered the main beats so I don't have much to add.  But it's so hard to sum up Bryan's career in a few paragraphs since there's tons of things to unpack from all stages.  But he managed to sum it up quite well and I feel I'll need to get back on ROH club to watch the ROH matches on the list.

Edited August 22 by NikoBaltimore

[twiztor]

here's a funny story. back in 2006(?) i was watching TNA Impact (my man Christian had defected + they had recently gotten onto SpikeTV). I remember Mike Tenay telling the tv audience that if there were any wrestlers we wanted to see in TNA, to email in and tell them who. Well, i fired off an email that there was this indy wrestler, Bryan Danielson. He was mostly a submission guy and was getting some good hype online and would be worth checking out.

mind you, i don't know if i had actually seen Dragon wrestle.  It's possible that i saw a match here or there, but i absolutely did not have any fandom. i was more writing in because i WANTED to see him, but wasn't willing to put in the work to catch him in these non-televised promotions. it's doubly hilarious because he was already an indy darling, had a prominant run in ROH (including as World Champ!) and had been around for years. TNA had already been scooping up ROH talent. There was ZERO chance they didn't know him. i'm sure they read my email and rolled their eyes. They certainly should have. 

[Matt D]

I was trying to think of what to say, but honestly, everything I have to say about Danielson is in my reviews of his matches.

I just collated the AEW ones here: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2024/08/aew-five-fingers-of-death-master-list.html

I mean, personally, he went on a podcast recently and referenced one of them (that someone had sent him) as something he agreed with and... that's about as good as it gets as someone who does this as a hobby, right?

I don't have a lot to say about Sunday but I am excited for it, have high expectations for it, and yeah, look forward to getting to write about it.

[Brandon Bones]

On 8/18/2024 at 9:14 AM, The Natural said:

I made one for Sting and wanted to do the same for Bryan Danielson.

I’ve been a fan of wrestling since a young boy and Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan imo is the greatest wrestler of all time. Bryan Danielson can do it all from match quality (his biggest attribute, what a wrestler), promos, face or heel, comedy, brawl, commentator and authority figure. Still, there are things I wish Bryan wouldn't do. The headbutt charge, the diving headbutt and especially THAT sell he sometimes does. Makes me worry knowing Danielson's history with concussions and neck injuries requiring surgeries.

I became a fan of Bryan Danielson in 2004 via Ring of Honor Wrestling. Bryan Danielson as Ring of Honor World Champion in September 2005-December 2006 declaring himself the “Best Wrestler in the World!”, getting the ring announcer to add an extra note when announcing him in the ring and “I have till five!” The greatest Ring of Honor World Champion ever. One of the best world title reigns in wrestling history.

Bryan Danielson became Daniel Bryan when he joined WWE making his TV debut in NXT, February 2010. There were setbacks for Bryan, he was fired for choking Justin Roberts with his tie and spitting on John Cena on WWE RAW, June 2010. Bryan was brought back at WWE SummerSlam 2010. After successfully cashing in the WWE Money in the Bank 2011 for The Big Show's WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WWE TLC 2011 (I for sure thought he'd be the first to fail), Bryan started shouting “Yes!” and raising his arms upwards. This caught on big time and outside of wrestling with people doing that. As a baddie, Bryan would shout “No!” back at the “Yes!” chants. I had fun with Bryan and Kane's Team Hell No odd couple as WWE World Tag Team Champions and the funny Anger Management skits/Hug it Out match. Only Daniel Bryan could pull off the Hug it Out match.

I woke up to watch Daniel Bryan defeat John Cena cleanly for the WWE Championship in a classic match at WWE SummerSlam 2013. What a way to debut a new finisher, the running knee putting down the biggest name. Bryan went on to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the main event of WWE WrestleMania XXX beating Randy Orton and Batista, the fans demanded his inclusion in the main event through protests. Bryan vacated the WWE World Heavyweight Championship due to injury in June 2014 and came back in January 2015. For my 30th birthday that year, my Little Sis’ bought tickets for me and Dad to go to WWE Live, 12th April 2015. My first time at any wrestling show. and Daniel Bryan was there making it even better! I’ll always remember that day. Two days later Bryan had a tag team match on WWE Smackdown Live, 14th April 2015. and was pulled off the European Tour, it would be his last match as he had to retire, February 2016. However Daniel Bryan was cleared to in-ring competition in March 2018! We are so lucky to get this second chapter which reinforced my opinion Bryan Danielson is the GOAT.

Daniel Bryan regained the WWE Championship the week of WWE Survivor Series 2018 hitting AJ Styles with a low blow followed up by the running knee. The New Daniel Bryan was more aggressive in the ring, stomping people in the face, killed the Yes! Movement and cutting great promos. The promos chastising people about the environment, consumerism and animal welfare. Daniel Bryan is the planet’s champion and introduced an eco-friendly WWE Championship belt. This was one of my favourite incarnations of Daniel Bryan, maybe #1. Shame it didn't last longer.

I turned the air blue watching AEW All Out 2021 live as it was expected Bryan Danielson would debut there but Adam Cole came out. Thankfully Bryan debuted two minutes after. The amount of amazing matches he's had since September 2021-August 2024. I have to single out Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega at AEW Grand Slam Dynamite 2021, vs. Hangman Adam Page at AEW Winter is Coming Dynamite 2021, vs. MJF at AEW Revolution 2023, vs. Ricky Starks at AEW All Out 2023, vs. Zack Sabre Jr at AEW WrestleDream 2023 which is my pick for the best AEW match ever and vs. Will Ospreay at AEW Dynasty 2024. We even got to see Bryan Danielson wrestle in NJPW and CMLL. My dream match for years was Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada and we got it twice at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 and NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18.

At AEW All In 2024, Swerve Strickland defends his AEW World Championship vs. Bryan Danielson who puts his career on the line. I'm really hoping Danielson wins having never held the belt before. If he doesn't, the end of his full time career but I don't think he'll ever stop wrestling. I can't see him leaving AEW for his bond with Tony Khan either, his freedom to wrestle in other companies and gets to bleed.

Thank you for the memories, Bryan Danielson. The GOAT. Hope I get to meet you one day.

Thanks for reading. Sorry it's so long. Touch typist.

This post is why I’ll always be Daniel Bryan Danielsons #2 best fan.  A placement I am perfectly fine with. Great post, sir.