10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Champion Daniel Bryan

1. Daniel Bryan Is The Next Big Thing In Pro Wrestling...

Ironically, the many setbacks that have seemingly blighted Bryan's wrestling career have actually helped him in the long run. Had he simply graduated from WWE developmental and onto the main roster, he would surely be lacking the fiery individuality, intense fan support and unique wrestling style that are among his many trademarks. Bryan's moveset, splitsecond timing and crisp, dynamic style were honed to perfection by his time in Japan and on the US indy circuit. He learned to be a champion in ROH and cultivated a solid reputation all around the world by travelling hundreds of miles (and working painful matches) for low payoffs - just like it used to be, dammit! Plus, as anyone who has worked Butlins will tell you, all artists suffer for their art! Also, had he not been 'screwed' out of prominent championships so many times, fans would likely not be as invested in his character, or his steady progression up the card. Daniel Bryan is a three-time WWE Champion, but, in every way that counts, this current reign is his first. This might not actually be the case had the company not gotten cold feet about Bryan as a main event prospect after looking at the Pay Per View buy rates for last year's 'BattleGround' and 'Hell in a Cell' events. Even that eventually worked in Bryan's favor after WWE then attempted to push him further down the card, because, of course, it only served to ignite the vociferous fury of the aptly-named 'Yes Movement', perhaps now being examined as the 21st century equivalent of early-onset Hulkamania. D-Bry's appeal is offbeat, kooky and alternative, yes, but it comes backed up with major (and I do mean major) indy cred. Sports writer Patrick Michael writes that, "In the Gospel of Matthew 5:5, the author writes, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" In the macho world of professional wrestling, it's hard to imagine a small, meek wrestler inheriting anything except a beat down and a black eye. However, one of the smallest, most non-assuming wrestlers in the WWE has become the most popular performer in the promotion and possibly, in the world." He's right on every count. Here in 2014, Daniel Bryan represents a different kind of wrestling star. The business has changed (heck, the world has changed) and WWE appears to finally be acknowledging this following a frustrating period of protracted ignorance. Many of those old, well worn 1980's/1990's booking tricks have been rendered completely ineffectual by the passage of time and the proliferation of pop culture. For example, we have steroid addled bodybuilders everywhere these days; they wear skin-tight black tanktops and brag loudly about their "pecs" and their "quads", their "queefs" and their "quasars" (or whatever those things are called) - to literally anybody who will listen. They just aren't all that impressive anymore, even with a big shiny belt, cool entrance music and some tasty fireworks behind them. Also, pretty much everybody these days knows that wrestling is a work (although I personally reserve the right to slap a front facelock onto anybody that uses the term 'fake'). The fight needn't look overly convincing anymore, it can now be more about the artistry, the craftsmanship, the storytelling and the seemingly impossible, dream-like moments that only pro wrestling can bring to an audience. I mean, if you want to see two guys fight, as in, really fight, tune into UFC sometime. It's mainly big, double-hard blokes slapping ju-jitsu holds on one another and rolling around grunting on the floor. Matches can either be done in 20 seconds or they can take forever. Steel chairs almost never enter into it, sadly. In wrestling, however, there are characters, storylines and beautiful moments that are sometimes scripted, sometimes ad-libbed but usually a little of both. Wrestling is like theatre, or the circus, or boxing, or a soap opera, or a mad mix of all four. ...And in this mad arena, Daniel Bryan makes perfect sense. Sure, in the real world, guys like Brock Lesnar can break your nose with a well-timed fart, but where's the fun in that? Who actually wants to watch that? Seriously, who really had fun watching former UFC kingpin Lesnar pummel a gaunt and helpless-looking Undertaker at WrestleMania XXX? I know I died a little inside watching it. Maybe its because, deep down inside, we all know that's what would actually happen if a middle-aged pro wrestler tried to take down an MMA fighter, of Lesnar's skill and power, in his prime: it would be nothing short of a massacre. And it was. Poor old 'Taker was essentially happy slapped in front of an audience of 75,000 screaming fans. I, for one, did not enjoy seeing that. From my personal viewpoint (yours may differ), it was a shattering of illusions; an unmasking of sorts and it did far more to expose the business than a million 'Secrets of Pro Wrestling Revealed' DVDs or improbable Rey Mysterio victories ever could. The business used to be a lot more 'nuts and bolts' credible, certainly, but did people really believe that 'The Fabulous Flying Frenchman' ‰douard Carpentier's acrobatic leaps, or, for that matter, Argentina Rocca's 'foot slaps' would be of any use in an actual street fight? It is a rhetorical question, because we all know the answer. Anyway, for me, Daniel Bryan brings the magic back to pro wrestling and, in that magic, in that suspension of disbelief, lies the indelible realism. Its taken them a long time, but WWE seem to have remembered this at long last. Can a guy that size really knock off a giant like Big Show in real life? Nope. I am considerably taller than Daniel Bryan and I know that I couldn't beat Randy Orton in a fight, but when you see D-Bry in there, you know that he might just do it. Isn't that magical? Daniel Bryan is a different kind of real. Either that, or he's a geek avatar for the dispossessed. Daniel Bryan's appeal, however, is more than just 'geek chic', it is more than just 'underdog appeal' and it is far more than just 'smark-baiting' (see what I did there?), it is the arrival of a MAJOR new star in the sport and, just maybe, the beginning of a brand new chapter in sports-entertainment history. He may get called a "goat" from time to time, but let's not forget that G.O.A.T might also one day stand for 'Greatest Of All Time' Daniel Bryan wasn't born in a vacuum, he wasn't created by a team of high-priced image consultants and he never had anything handed to him. His story is one of determination, succeeding on one's own merits and the grand power of inspiration. The wrestling biz didn't want what Bryan was selling, so rather than fold up his stall and go home, Bryan Danielson simply changed the marketplace to better suit his needs. If you take one thing away from this article, let it be this: if you dream hard enough and you back that dream up with hard work and perseverance, then the word 'impossible', quite literally, loses all of its power and meaning. Oh yeah, there wasn't space for this one, but our new WWE Champion, perhaps the greatest pro wrestler working in the world right now, regularly shampoos his beard and, um, uses coconut oil in his hair. "I think it looks wonderful, magnificent even" he said candidly in one of the (many) interviews I used to create this feature (somewhere, I think Vince McMahon's head just exploded). - CQ