After Daniel Bryan‘s dream WWE Championship victory at WrestleMania XXX, he was on top of the world. He had reached the highest peak of the pro wrestling mountain and it seemed like there was absolutely no stopping him. However, an untimely injury would take him out, and despite Bryan claiming that he was willing to hold the title till SummerSlam and then drop it.
WWE was absolutely spot on with refusing his request because that would have only done further long-term damage to his health. He would return in 2015 and then win the Intercontinental Championship, only to face an injury again, vacating the title in the process. The next time we saw Bryan return to WWE television, it was to announce his unfortunate early retirement. It was emotional, but in the end, it seemed inevitable.
Bryan, despite verifying with multiple doctors outside of WWE, was not able to get medical clearance to wrestle and WWE, out of concern for his health as well as their image, refused to let Bryan wrestle, something which he never blamed them for. With two and a half years left on his contract and WWE refusing to release him early, Bryan had to take up a non-wrestling role while still being on WWE’s payroll.
So he became the SmackDown General Manager. This was a role that he actually thrived in, despite not being fully in it himself. Who could blame him? All the man ever wanted to do was wrestle and entertain audiences, and his GM role restricted him from getting physical, despite teasing a feud against The Miz. Regardless, he was entertaining on Talking Smack while it lasted, and his position as General Manager was one enjoyed by fans.
Around 2017, something happened. Daniel Bryan had never been able to accept the fact that he would never return to the ring again, and as a result, kept going to different concussion specialists all across the United States. At this point, he had actually been cleared to return to the ring by more than one specialist. Despite this, WWE refused to clear him out of concern.
While he was understanding of WWE’s point of view, he made it very clear for everyone to know – had WWE not cleared him by September 2018 (the date of his contract expiry), then he would be leaving to wrestle elsewhere. At the end of January 2018, the miracle did indeed happen – WWE cleared Daniel Bryan for in-ring competition.
And so the honeymoon phase would begin. He teamed with Shane McMahon to take on Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 34. Poetically, it was at the very same stadium that he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship four years prior – The Mercedes Benz Superdome at New Orleans.
After WrestleMania, he got off on decent footing, but there’s no doubt it could have gone better. He took on a returning and out-of-shape Big Cass, where the feud was literally just based on height difference. Bryan would beat him on two consecutive PPVs before Cass ended up getting released.
Post-honeymoon phase, things weren’t looking so great either. He finally had a feud against The Miz, one which got their wives involved and one that turned out to be rather disappointing. The return still hadn’t fully lived up to fans’ expectations. Then, it all changed. Bryan found himself in contention for AJ Styles‘ WWE Championship, and after one failed attempt, he faced him shortly after, cheating in uncharacteristic fashion to end AJ Styles’ year-long WWE title reign.
His shocking heel turn would be cemented after a post-match attack, and things would never be the same. This was not the same Daniel Bryan. This was the new Daniel Bryan, and he turned his real personality up to a 100, portraying the environmentally conscious-yet overly-preachy kind of person. His masterful heel work ensured that he could make a smooth transition into a heel, and it all seemed effortless.
His WWE title reign would end up surpassing all his previous reigns with the title combined, and he even introduced a new hemp championship, dumping the original WWE title in the dustbin. The next few months would mark an incredible run, with Bryan recruiting Rowan and his peer, and most notably being one of the propellers in Kofi Kingston‘s unexpected journey to the main event scene.
As a heel, Bryan really found his stride. It was believed that he personally requested to turn, and for good reason. He ended up getting the crowd to turn on him in a way that nobody would have ever imagined. The Yes movement which captured th heart’s of the WWE Universe was dead.
Perhaps the defining moment of his heel turn was when he unexpectedly was the final boss for Kofi Kingston in his Gauntlet match to cement a spot at WrestleMania. Bryan, for the first time in his heel run, did the “Yes” chants, only to get a resounding “NO” from the crowd. They had 100% turned on him and that alone goes to show why Daniel Bryan is not just any elite-level talent, he’s the gold standard of wrestling.
There are certain talents who just shine because of their ability, but for Bryan, it’s on a whole other level. He deserves as much credit as Kofi Kingston does for the latter’s rise in contendership, and in hindsight, this run of Bryan’s will be looked back on with great fascination.
