20 Greatest Moments Of Daniel Bryan's Career

19. Wrestling With A Detached Retina

Sure, Bryan Danielson is absolutely great to watch in the ring with his technical prowess, his effortless awareness, and his aggressive, smash-mouth style, but he€™s also one tough S.O.B. At 2007€™s Manhattan Mayhem show, Danielson challenged Takeshi Morishima for the ROH World Championship. He€™d lose the match, but it was what happened in the match that stands out as one of the most memorable moments in the career of the American Dragon. Mere minutes into the match, a shot to Bryan€™s head resulted in a broken orbital bone and a detached retina. A detached retina! As in he could€™ve gone blind! Not one to disappoint the fans, Danielson toughed it out and went for a further 20+ minutes and put on a fantastic match against the much larger Morishima, who attacked the eye throughout the match (because that€™s sensible when a legit injury has occurred€). Additionally, this whole incident also led to Bryan wearing an eyepatch for a little while, which we all know makes anybody infinitely cooler.
In this post: 
Daniel Bryan
 
Posted On: 
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.