10 Best Wrestlers Of 2019
5. Daniel Bryan
A great underdog tale only comes around under a rare moon, particularly within a machine defiant of it, because the development is organic. Daniel Bryan's genius is such that he almost engineered two in 2019.
Bryan attempted to elevate his project Mustafa Ali, and very nearly did throughout a string of powerhouse performances on a quality run of SmackDown episodes, but Ali succumbed to an ill-timed injury. Kofi Kingston deputised for Ali in the sentimental underdog role, and Bryan convinced WWE of his main event credentials in a masterclass at Elimination Chamber. In that pulsating, emotional crescendo of a finishing sequence, Bryan also convinced the crowd with a tremendous last-gasp near-fall, loaded in heart, creating a yet more elusive organic 'Moment' in the process.
Kofi's true, WrestleMania Moment was as much Bryan's: the Planet's Champion's performance was so masterful that he distilled Kofi's decade of struggle into an absorbing series of anxious story beats that culminated in that rarest - most impossible - of emotions: unadulterated, WWE euphoria.
Bryan made tag team wrestling vital in the late spring, by elevating Otis and Big E in perfectly-built, epic standoffs, before rescuing a super-sh*tty Whodunnit storyline by performing with such visceral fire that he turned babyface in about a minute and a half.