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

7. RANDOM FACT: Daniel Bryan Was Never A Backyard Wrestler...But He Did Wrestle At Butlins...

Yes, you read that correctly, Daniel Bryan, the current WWE Champion, used to wrestle semi-regularly at Butlins holiday resorts up and down the UK (no, really). During his time in WWE developmental territory MCW, Daniel Bryan trained under British wrestling legend William Regal (for more about the brutal and brilliant talents of Mr. Regal, check out this article I did in 2013). "I saw it from the day I met him" said Regal in an interview earlier this year "He took everything and made it work for him". One of Regal's suggestions was that Danielson head over to the UK and train with Robbie Brookside, a veteran of the British wrestling circuit. Brookside was hopefully kinder to Bryan than the veterans were to him when he was starting out. In Simon Garfield's thoroughly engrossing (and highly recommended) history of British wrestling (called, somewhat unsurprisingly, The Wrestling) Brookside recalls the harshness of his own in-ring apprenticeship. "It would have been lovely just to have had to make the tea and go and look for tartan paint, but it doesn't happen like that in the wrestling job. I'd be sixteen or seventeen, on the road for a week just travelling the motorways, and you'd wake up and have frying oil in your mouth, and they'd burn you and nick all your gear. I think it was a test to show how much you wanted a life like that. They were always putting Ex-Lax in my tea €“ a favourite" Even on top of that, as any UK-wrestling fan will tell you, British wrestling is not pretty. Here's a case in point, again from Garfield, detailing a show he attended whilst writing his book, "There was a small groan as the MC announced that the Imposing Undertaker (a knock-off version of the WWE model) would not be appearing as scheduled, something about his back. His replacement was billed as a regular crowd pleaser, an ever-popular attraction, but turned out to be a fat middle-aged man no one appeared to have heard of" However, British wrestling is a great place to learn the fundamentals. We have a strong history of shoot wrestling here in the UK (especially in Wigan), as well as a long lineage of hookers and shooters that traditionally made a living working at carnivals and fun fairs. Plus, British wrestlers are the hardest bunch of b*stards that you could ever hope not to meet. In terms of style, traditional British wrestling tends to focus a little more on holds, reversals and positioning than it's American forbear presently does (go back and watch the old ITV World of Sport stuff and you'll see what I mean). Crowds are usually smaller, whilst venues range from quaint and homely to just plain depressing. In order to succeed in British wrestling, you really have to want it. So, Daniel Bryan, current WWE Champion, used to wrestle at Butlins. In fact, he wrestled right across our little cluster of rain-soaked islands. Amazingly, he actually seems to have enjoyed it. Of course, Regal was keen to teach Danielson and the two formed a fast (and lasting) friendship. In fact, following his release from WWE, not a week went by that he didn't phone Regal for career advice (and, as mentors go, they don't actually get any better). To this day, Regal is thoroughly unsurprised regarding his protégé's success, "From the second he walked through that curtain, people believed in him" he says. One other thing, a rumour (and some photos) were circulating for a while that Daniel Bryan began his career as a backyard wrestler. This is simply untrue, as he pointed out to wrestling correspondent and Hip Hop radio DJ Pete Rosenberg in a 'Wrestling With Rosenberg' interview (its on YouTube and I guarantee you that all of Rosenberg's interviews are worth a look), he was simply posing for some material to help a friend who was doing a website project on wrestling. There was/is nothing else to it. Now, onto Ring of Honor...