Daniel Bryan's Favourite Moment Wasn't WrestleMania 30

By John Canton / June 17, 2015

Daniel Bryan says his favourite moment in wrestling wasn't when he won the WWE Title at WrestleMania 30, it was a promo that happened half a year earlier in December 2013. The currently sidelined WWE superstar was speaking with the Ashbury Park Press to promote an appearance in Freehold, NJ on June 28 when he said the following;

"It was just supposed to be an interview between (on-air authority figure) Triple-H, Randy Orton and John Cena, but the fans there weren't having it. They just started chanting 'Yes!' and 'Yes!' and 'Yes!' and 'Daniel Bryan!' and 'Yes!' and more Yes-ing to the point that they were ruining the segment."

"John Cena is so smart and so quick on his feet, he pulls me forward and asks me something to the effect of 'What's your name?' I said, 'Daniel Bryan,' and everybody cheers. 'Where are you from?' 'Aberdeen, Washington.' Everybody cheers louder. 'Were either your mom or dad a WWE superstar?' I said that no, my dad is a log scaler and logging is big in the area, so then everybody cheered. It's mostly special because that was the last time my dad got to see me wrestle before he passed away. And not only that, but he got mentioned. For me, that's a very special moment. That's my favorite, even more so than WrestleMania XXX. If you were to ask me my favorite moment in wrestling, that'd be it."

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It took place on December 9, 2013 and it was the Slammy Awards show in Seattle, which is close where Bryan grew up. WWE held something called the "Championship Ascension Ceremony" where they had former WWE/World Champions in the ring (along with JBL on commentary) to set up the Randy Orton vs. John Cena TLC match to unify the titles.

When watching the video again, you could see how much Bryan genuinely loved the cheers and there were others in the ring that were smiling for it too like Big Show. Mark Henry even raised Bryan's hand at one point, which led to more cheers from the hot crowd. This promo was also famous for when Stephanie claimed her husband Triple H was the greatest wrestler ever while CM Punk mocked what he was hearing. The ending of the segment was great when it turned into a brawl where a bunch of guys hit their signature moves.

Most wrestlers that have main evented a WrestleMania as the babyface champion would say that's the best moment of their careers, but not Bryan. He loved getting that kind of reception in a city close to home and for a moment that his parents were able to witness as well. His father passed away five months later just after Bryan won the WWE Title, so it's easy to understand why he cherishes this memory so much.