10 Incredible Transformations From Jobbers To WWE Champions
3. Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan was only ever a jobber in the minds of his bosses. Unfortunately, they were the only ones that could do anything about changing that and, being WWE, they did everything they could not to.
When the 11-year pro and independent wrestling legend rocked up as an NXT "rookie" with a name that sounded like malapropian rib rather than an attempt to get him over, the fix seemed in. A total banger with Chris Jericho on the first episode of the show only diffused worries for a week - Bryan's rowing with his "pro" The Miz and a damaging losing streak made it look increasingly like WWE were trying to find ways to make him fail. They succeeded in their goal to get him eliminated from the partially-worked show first, keeping him away from deservedly winning the whole thing months later.
Controversy hung over him in the aftermath, made worse by a PR firing following his choking of Justin Roberts with a tie during Nexus' violent debut on Monday Night Raw. The stupidest possible start to life was made better by a decent SummerSlam return, where he teamed with John Cena - the man he'd done jobbing duties for on Velocity as early as 2003, when WWE again elected just not to bother keeping him around.