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21st March 2018
11:13am GMT
Daniel Bryan was never meant to be WWE superstar. He’s a 5ft 10, 210 lb former vegan, with a beard that made him look more like he should be Fleet Foxes than main eventing Wrestlemania. He’s a hippy from the hometown as Kurt Cobain. He’s been given awards by PETA. He abstains from drinking alcohol. But despite all this, on April 6, 2014, at Wrestlemania XXX, he stood triumphant, holding two WWE title belts, with the crowd emphatically chanting “YES! YES! YES!” back at him.
Yet this wasn’t to last. Instead of the beginning of a new era, it was really a last hurrah. By May, he’d lost all strength in his right arm, and he was forced to relinquish the title to undergo neck surgery. He’d return to the ring the next January, but by April 2015 he was again pulled from active duty - this time due to concussion-related injuries. After months of speculation, on February 8, 2016, Bryan announced his retirement. His farewell speech on Raw that night, from his home state of Washington, was one of the most tearful moments in the history of WWE TV.
25 months later, and WWE have just that announced he’s been cleared to wrestle again.
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/976172642972598273To understand what an emotional moment this is, you have to understand Daniel Bryan’s journey. Prior to WWE, Bryan was a cult hero in independent wrestling. Going under the monicker ‘The American Dragon’, and by his birth name Bryan Danielson, he wrestled around the globe. He was regarded as arguably the best wrestler in the world - but even when he did sign with WWE, fans had little hope for him making it in the big leagues. He was a million miles away from the quintessential WWE superstar look, personified by Hulk Hogan, The Rock or John Cena.
He debuted in 2010 as part of the original ‘game-show’ version of NXT, where he was routinely mocked by the commentary team for being a dweeb. He was then part of the Nexus storyline, where the united NXT rookies shockingly invaded an episode of Raw. But what should had glorious moment for Bryan was quickly the first of many set-backs. As part of the segment, he ‘straggled’ announcer Justin Roberts with his tie. The act was supposedly deemed too violent for the sponsor’s likes - Bryan took the fall for it, and he was released from the company.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPoQI_5wPagIt was a temporary measure - Bryan returned within a few months, but it set a pattern his career would follow. He’d make incredible steps forward that no one would have predicted, only to be shunted back just as fast. He would win the World Heavyweight Championship (then the B-level belt) in late 2011, but at Wrestlemania XVIII would be booked to lose it in a humiliating eighteen-second match. Despite this, he was quickly becoming a fan favourite.
I should quickly explain Daniel Bryan’s wrestling style: essentially, Daniel Bryan wrestles like an excitable five year-old who’s had too many sugary drinks. Other wrestling fans would probably call it a high-impact independent style. He flies in, full of energy, throwing kicks everywhere, leaping off things. He’s also highly capable at submissions and grappling. It’s exciting and infectious, but as far from the big dudes hotdogging for the crowd that used to define WWE main events. It was yet another reason why people said Bryan would never truly make it to the big time.
Bryan continued to get over with the fans, in no small part to his “YES!” chant. Simply put, it is easily one of the most fun chants to do in wrestling - just point in the air with both hands and shout “YES!” - and quickly spread far beyond WWE. The groundswell of fan support was impossible to ignore, but WWE had already decided on the returning Batista being their big hero for that year’s Wrestlemania. When Bryan failed to appear at the Royal Rumble, the fans revolted, booing both Batista and final entrant Rey Mysterio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsX1ATcyQxUEventually, WWE changed their plans (possibly due to the disarray following CM Punk’s suddenly quitting the company after the Rumble). They integrated the real life fan anger into the storyline, featuring a mock ‘stage invasion’ with the audience piling into the ring on Raw. And then over two matches at Wrestlemania XXX, he beat Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista, in one of the most iconic wrestling moments of the century.
But both the life of real Bryan Danielson, and his on-screen character Daniel Bryan, has never run smooth. A week after Wrestlemania XXX, he married fellow WWE wrestler Brie Bella. Eleven days later, his father unexpectedly passed away. And then, what should have been his big main event run was mainly spent out injured, until the inevitable could be put off no longer, and he finally hung up his boots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KzD06WpofwHis return from retirement, at such short notice, is the fairytale ending none of us ever thought we'd get. The reported story went that several independent doctors had cleared Bryan to return to the ring, but WWE’s official medical team refused to sign him off. Rumours constantly appeared on wrestling websites that he would return to Japan, or Mexico, or the indies, once his current WWE contract ran out. Wrestling is full of stories of guys who destroyed their bodies because they didn’t know when to quit. WWE is now a publicly traded company, and with increased attention paid to concussions, it felt like they were trying to keep him from running off to some less-scrupulous organisation who might fudge the paperwork. Much as I wanted to Bryan back in the ring - any ring - I had horrible visions of him crippling or even killing himself in front of a few hundred wrestling nerds, just to get that rush again.
https://twitter.com/WWEDanielBryan/status/976195696180318208So the fact that he’s been medically cleared to return, to the biggest stage, is utterly joyous. Wrestling Twitter is currently ablaze with excited and YES! gifs. True, his style will probably have to be toned down. and yes, he might quickly be re-retired as quickly as he was un-retired, if his recent history is anything to go by. But lets just enjoy this moment. Let’s take a second to acknowledge a piece of genuine good news, regardless of how it turns out. God knows, we need it. Daniel Bryan loves to wrestle, and the fans love to watch him wrestle. And he’s going to get to do it again.
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