20 Greatest Moments Of Daniel Bryan's Career

17. His SummerSlam Return

Having been fired from the WWE for apparently not giving off a good impression to sponsors after The Nexus€™ debut saw Bryan choke out Justin Roberts with his own tie, many wondered whether that was it for the American Dragon€™s WWE career. After all, for years there was uncertainty as to whether the WWE would take a chance on somebody like Bryan Danielson. And so, when they did and then ended up promptly firing him, many thought that that was it for the former ROH Champion, with some even suggesting that the WWE saw this as the perfect excuse to get rid of a guy that they deemed too small to be a success. And so, it was a huge moment to see D-Bry make a surprise return at SummerSlam 2010 to help out Team WWE against The Nexus. His return showed that the WWE did see some value in the American Dragon, that he maybe did have a future with the biggest company in the industry, and maybe, just maybe, there was a slight change in WWE€™s approach to using talents not perceived as typical WWE guys or those labelled 'indy darlings'.
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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.