In 2009, WWE signed Bryan Danielson, a top independent wrestler and one of the most talented grapplers anywhere in the world. He debuted on the first season of NXT, and immediately, fans were told that he wasn't very interesting. As Michael Cole's new heel persona began to cut its teeth, he would constantly remind the WWE Universe that the newly-renamed Daniel Bryan was a puny nerd, one not to be taken seriously. Still, Bryan built up a fan following, due in no small part to the fact that his matches were always excellent. The burial continued, though -- when he got to the main roster, Bryan engaged in a feud with his NXT mentor, The Miz. Miz echoed many of Cole's sentiments, and though Bryan won the U.S. Title from the reality TV star, he would lose it unceremoniously to Sheamus. He drifted around for a bit, and even though he surprisingly won Smackdown's Money in the Bank match in 2011, he continued to lose high- (and low-) profile bouts on TV. Eventually the fans, believing they had no reason to care about him and beginning to take Cole as his word, started to chant "Boring" during Bryan's matches. Thankfully, a World Title win and heel turn made Bryan a star, but it only took off thanks to his own talent -- he helped fans forget that WWE seemed to being intentionally killing his momentum just months prior.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
