20 Greatest Moments Of Daniel Bryan's Career

12. Royal Rumble 2014

In a unique twist of events, the 2014 Royal Rumble match was a huge moment in the career of Daniel Bryan€ even though he wasn€™t even in the match. Having lost an excellent earlier bout against Bray Wyatt, fans wanted €“ no, expected €“ to see Bryan turn up in the Rumble match later in the night. And we waited. And waited. And waited a little longer. And a little longer. Then came the 30th entrant€ Rey Mysterio. At the realisation that there would be no D-Bry in the Rumble match, not only did fans boo the super babyface Mysterio, but the rest of the Rumble match was soured on by those in attendance as Batista went on to win the match and a €˜Mania title shot. The fact that the fans hijacked the Royal Rumble match was a firm statement of intent: they wanted to see Daniel Bryan, he was their guy, and if they didn€™t get to see him in a big role then they were going to make sure that WWE programming wasn€™t going to go the way that Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn et al wanted it to.
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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.