Sunday 6th April 2014. Daniel Bryan jubilantly hoists the WWE Championship in one hand and the World Heavyweight Championship in the other. The look on his face is a mixture of abject exhaustion and pure, almost indescribable, elation. The Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Lousiana rattles and shudders to the approving roar of some 75,000 rabid WWE fans... It made for a future-classic WrestleMania moment, setting the diminutive D-Bry walking the same hallowed path as deified WWE icons of the past like Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and (Bryans mentor) Shawn Micheals. Right now, it seems as if the whole world is talking about Daniel Bryan. ...But who is he, really? In my earlier article on Daniel Bryan, I called him the funny looking, bearded and vegan face of the future, as well as describing him as a bearded torpedo and a Human pinball. Elsewhere, hes been likened to a goat, a hobbit and the fightingest garden gnome ever seen. All are very vivid and evocative descriptions, but they dont actually reveal an awful lot about the man. To casual or lapsed wrestling fans, as well as the world of mainstream sports, Daniel Bryan simply came out of nowhere, a bolt of bearded lightening that suddenly everyone seems to care very deeply about. Why are the fans so energized and excited about this guy? Where did he actually come from? ...And whats with those YES! YES! YES! and NO! NO! NO! chants? If youve been wondering about any of the above, or youd just like to know who this Daniel Bryan character is, then this article is for you. If you already know everything there is to know, then read it anyway, because you just might enjoy yourself...
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ
