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

10. Daniel Bryan Has Been Wrestling For About 15 Years...

Let's get one thing straight; Daniel Bryan is no rookie. Over the course of a professional career that (so far) spans a decade and a half, the WWE superstar formerly known as Bryan Danielson has pretty much seen it all... Originally hailing from Aberdeen, Washington, Bryan Danielson graduated from high school in 1999. From there, he enrolled in The Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy (latterly known as The Texas Wrestling Academy) in Texas, uprooting himself from his home and travelling hundreds of miles just to learn from the best. Whilst still training, the young man began wrestling in the school's attached promotion, Texas Wrestling Alliance (TWA), earning Tag Team gold in the process. WWE scouts spotted the talented youngster in 2000 and signed him to a developmental contract. He was then farmed out to a WWE-affiliated promotion, Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) which was one of the WWE's developmental territories. At the time, these territories acted as training grounds for promising young guns, as well as 'punishment parks' for wayward WWE superstars and/or places that established wrestlers could go in order to improve their game. By all accounts, Danielson adapted well to the territory. Like a lot of developing talent before him, Bryan Danielson was occasionally called up to WWE TV to play 'jobber to the stars' (long time fans will recall a particularly gut-wrenching example of just how bad these in-ring baptisms can be, as recounted in Mick Foley's wonderful autobiography Have a Nice Day). According to Wikipedia, a youngster by the name of John Cena was among the up-and-comers that Danielson put over during this period. However, disaster struck when WWE severed its business ties with MCW and released the newly christened 'American Dragon' from his contract, dashing his hopes of making it as a WWE star. Next up: a random fact...