With the recent announcement of Daniel Bryan’s retirement, I would like to take some time writing about the man that came to inspire me for the last nine years or so. The man I know most fondly as “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson. The best in the world.
During my years of getting to know wrestling as what it is around 2006, I remember people online always saying how this Bryan Danielson was the greatest wrestler in the world. I didn’t understand this at all, because I couldn’t understand how someone from a company beneath WWE/TNA could be this great. So I started to watch Ring of Honor wrestling, to see greatness unfold. What I saw, was a relatively small guy who was not “chiseled out of stone”, a normal guy in every way. Then I watched his matches with Takeshi Morishima of Pro Wrestling NOAH. Intense, brutal, amazing. What was a normal guy in my eyes at first, quickly became one of the most amazing wrestlers I’d ever seen. His technical expertise combined with his intensity in the ring, along with a silent-but powerful charisma made me understand exactly why he was called the best in the world.
His matches against Nigel McGuinness, KENTA, Samoa Joe, Takeshi Morishima, Low Ki, Christopher Daniels, Austin Aries and so many more, made me fall in love with the actual art that is professional wrestling. I am not the biggest guy around myself, but watching a guy like Bryan Danielson climb the ladder and making it in this business, made me and still makes me confident that I am not that far out myself. What is even more important to me, is that he genuinely seems like a great person. From what I’ve read all over, he never acted like an asshole, he wasn’t selfish or trying to screw anyone over just to get a spot himself. His warm laughter, his silent-charisma and obvious kindness for other human beings makes me believe that pro wrestling does not have to be all about screwjobs and fucking around to achieve something. Hard work and kindness to others, that is what I believe is the key to making it.
I recommend everyone to watch the first Wrestling Road Diaries (buy it!), and see how much fun he, Colt Cabana and Sal Rinauro is having on the road. In this excellent documentary production, we get to see one of my favourite Danielson moments. He is wrestling Austin Aries on his ROH Final Countdown tour, and in the closing moments of the match, Aries goes for the 450 splash, only to land in a triangle choke from Danielson. However, Aries connects right on his nuts, and you can hear Danielson screaming in pain while maintaining the hold, going “Oh my god, this is the most painful thing I have ever experienced”. I almost peed myself laughing.
Another great great Danielson moment, in fact it is my absolute favourite. He and El Generico were just about to wrestle (ROH), and Generico hugs him. He doesn’t hug him back and the crowd makes him say he’s sorry, in spanish. It it amazing and a great example of how much fun wrestling can be sometimes. If you haven’t seen it, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiNo-0sIGH0
I could have talked about his WWE run, his amazing matches against Cesaro, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Triple H an even John Cena. Cena is actually really great, as Danielson joked in his ROH farewell speech that he would go straight up to Cena (who everyone hated) and slap his head off. His match against John Cena at Summerslam in 2013 was, in my mind, a tremendous moment as no one expected him to reach that far. He did, and he conquered the heart of millions and millions of fans until he now decided to retire.
I find it incredibly sad that I will not be able to see him wrestle anymore, but I feel happy that he is walking out healthy (more or less), and not through a serious injury. As a hug fan of the man, the wrestler, the best in the world, I hope he finds happiness in whatever he chooses to do next.
Adrian Storm 