The most recent entry on this list, Daniel Bryans rise to the main event contains elements of several of these earlier entries. He was deemed to be too small, like Rey, Hardy and the Hurricane. He was an outstanding wrestler, like Punk, Benoit and Eddie. He was incredibly popular despite these setbacks, like Hardy and Ryder. Finally, he had to go through a lengthy rivalry with an evil authority figure, like Austin. Considered a B+ player in WWE, many fans knew that Bryan Danielson was arguably the greatest wrestling technician alive, and very well may still hold that title. However, like others before him, he didnt have the chiseled body, clean-shaven face, or even the stature of someone who would be considered a World Champion. It seemed that Bryan had reached his glass ceiling in WWE, and that he would never truly reach the top. However, once his rivalry with the Authority began, his star began to really rise. Like Austin before him, he faced unimaginable odds and countless roadblocks to becoming World Champion; and like Austin before him, the fans stood by him through and through. But unlike in Austins case, the fans actually changed the course of wrestling history. During Austins rivalry with McMahon, the plan all along was for Austin to become Champion, regardless of what events played out on WWE programming. Bryan, on the other hand, was not. Batista was supposed to win the World title at WrestleMania XXX, and CM Punk was supposed to face Triple H at the same event. When Punk left WWE, plans for WrestleMania had to be changed. But it was the overwhelmingly negative fan reaction at the Royal Rumble that sent a message loud and clear to the WWEs top brass: the fans wanted Bryan, not Batista. As a result, fans were treated to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oCDsGeVB3A Five years ago, no one wouldve ever expected Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan to be World Champion in WWE. He was a small man who was an outstanding wrestler, but his promo skills werent on the same levels as some of the top stars in WWE. But Bryan proved everyone wrong, and once again proved the same thing that Punk, Eddie, Benoit and others demonstrated: small, technically-gifted wrestlers can carry the company just as much as guys like Hogan and Cena.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
