7 Moments That Will Define Daniel Bryan's WWE Career

5. WrestleMania XXVIII - 18 Seconds

Daniel Bryan 2014 Royal Rumble
WWE.com

Bryan would hold the World Heavyweight Championship all the way through to WrestleMania XXVIII, where he would defend the strap in the opening match of the night against Royal Rumble winner, Sheamus. Many expected an excellent match between the two. 

Nobody, and I mean nobody, could have guessed what would happen next.

Bryan was aligned with AJ Lee, and once the bell rang Bryan summoned AJ onto the apron for a pre-match good luck kiss. Immediately after unlocking lips, our man would turn around directly into a Brouge Kick from the Irishman, and three seconds later it was over. The match lasted all of 18 seconds.

The reaction of the crowd was negative, to say the least. Bryan was a heel, but a popular heel nonetheless, and seeing such a talented performer humiliated in such a fashion planted the seeds of what would happen over the next two years. 

Daniel Bryan didn't immediately become the biggest babyface in the company, feuding with Sheamus for a couple of months more before a series of excellent matches with CM Punk, but this was the real starting point for what would culminate two years later.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.