10 Saddest World Title Reigns In Wrestling History
2. Daniel Bryan
Hot take: any title reign that Daniel Bryan enjoyed following his win at WrestleMania XXX was going to be somewhat disappointing. It was all about the journey, about overcoming the odds, about that truly magical moment in New Orleans when WWE was finally forced to concede that Daniel Bryan was, once and for all, an all-time great and a worthy top star. He wasn't going to be Bruno Sammartino, and he wasn't even going to be CM Punk.
What hurts so much about what happened is that immediately after the fans proved WWE wrong, Bryan proved them right. After the merest fraction of a lackluster program with Kane, Bryan got hurt. Making him the focus of the company had been a mistake, and he hadn't been the right guy to shoulder that burden.
It's made even more depressing by the fact that he never had the chance to redeem himself with a more impressive world title reign; after spending a year on the shelf, he returned as part of the IC title scene, and was forced to retire immediately after winning that.