8 Wrestling Exceptions That Prove The 'Top Guy' Rule
7. Daniel Bryan
Theres no way we can go on without talking about the ultimate Cinderella story. Bryan represents a dying breed of territory wrestlers and was a veteran long before he graced the squared circle in WWE. Similar to Benoit, Bryan is shorter than your standard American football player and this was for some reason still a problem in 2014.
Transitioning from other sports is great for your career. All your accolades are exhaustively listed every time you pop up, but for career pro-wrestlers like Bryan, achievements and experience are largely redacted. Bryan was put into the first ever NXT and allocated to his pro, The Miz. A mismatch certainly but we saw something interesting from the violent vegan. He was a wolverines whisker less aggressive than Benoit but on the mic he was a good deal less uncomfortable and more versatile.
He jumped into many a silly angle throughout his time and despite not factoring into Vinnies plans much he played ball and got over in the most unexpected ways. Eventually he earned his moment and with a completely unified universe behind him, he reached the summit.
Known for exciting matches, tireless charity work and insane crowd reactions, Bryan could have redefined the industry if he just had more time.