Daniel Bryan was never meant to be a main event WWE star, and he sure as hell wasn't meant to be a WrestleMania show-closing champion. But he achieved all those things and more through sheer force of in-ring excellence combined with a magnetic personality. Whether it was as a heel or as a face, he was consistently one of the most entertaining parts of WWE programming. The fans loved him for that, getting behind him in a way that at times resembled Stone Cold Steve Austin's amazing level of popularity in the late 90s. Unfortunately for Bryan and us fans, he burned out way too soon. He always gave us 100% and he always put his body on the line. The price has now been paid, with Bryan retiring at thirty four years of age due to concussion problems. The best wrestler of the last half decade is now done as far as in-ring competition goes. Thankfully, in the six years he did have as an active WWE wrestler, he left some absolutely tremendous memories. But it was never a straight forward road to success, and some of his career moments left fans exclaiming "what the f***". It is a mix of the good and bad, the YES! and the NO!, with the underdog never too far away from a WTF moment in his WWE career.
21. Signing With WWE
Bryan Danielson signing with WWE was a WTF moment in itself. Despite being the best technical wrestler in the world, he really wasn't the WWE fit. He also had a reputation as the king of the indepenedent scene, which far from being attractive to WWE, was usually a reason they avoided certain wrestlers. Nobody expected WWE to sign him. He was expected to be the guy who would go down in history for his work in places like Ring Of Honor and various Japanese promotions. But in August 2009, the unthinkable happened; WWE signed Bryan Danielson. This was during a time when the company was still focused on being the land of the giants, and it really was shocking that they'd picked up the poster boy for the independent scene. That's what makes Bryan's story so amazing - just his signing with WWE was unlikely, never mind everything that came later.
