10 WWE Midcarders Who Broke The Glass Ceiling
3. Daniel Bryan
Despite times and attitudes changing so as to where it was more accepted for smaller wrestlers to win the WWE/World Heavyweight Titles, Daniel Bryan was still not a man that WWE envisioned holding either strap. He didn't have the body or the charisma and he didn't even eat steak, dammit!
He was the antithesis of a Vince McMahon guy, an indie darling who might have contested classics all over the world, winning the respect of fans and his peers along the way, but he hadn't done jack sh*t in his company. And so he was ridiculed on air and made out to be a dork, before he was unceremoniously released following the whole choking Justin Roberts with a tie incident.
He was brought back at SummerSlam 2010 and had an alright year, winning the 2011 Money in the Bank ladder match. And then he went on something of a losing streak and was taken off pay-per-views, instead working the dark match at Night of Champions, Hell in a Cell and Vengeance.
Bryan had said he'd intended to cash-in his MITB briefcase at WrestleMania XXVIII, but that was a ruse: he actually cashed in on Big Show after Show had won the World Heavyweight Title from Mark Henry at TLC 2011. Daniel Bryan was World Heavyweight Champion.
He'd go on to win the WWE World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania XXX, thanks to unwavering crowd support. The bearded wonder was never supposed to be there alongside McMahon favourites Randy Orton and John Cena, but he shattered the glass ceiling and did it.