When looking at wrestlers who forged a powerful relationship with fans, it'd be literally impossible not to mention Daniel Bryan. The relatively short, unspectacular (from Vince McMahon's perspective, at least) Bryan does not immediately shout out, "WWE Superstar". By his own admission, the man is fairly weird and introverted. He's pretty much as far away from what McMahon wants from main event World Champions as possible. Even so, Bryan won the WWE World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania XXX. For years, fans had voiced their opinion that he should be the promotion's focal point. People really believed in Daniel, for whatever reason, and that would come across every single time he appeared on television. Cries of 'Yes' thundered out across the globe, and Daniel Bryan quickly became the wrestling star most fans wanted to see pushed. WWE resisted, but they couldn't do so forever. The swell of support was simply overpowering, and led to Bryan finally achieving his goal of becoming the top performer in the entire industry. Unfortunately, injury would take that position from him, but at least he was able to trump the machine and take his place at the top of the tree.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
