Every Impossible Wrestling Return Ranked From Worst To Best
2. Bryan Danielson
Daniel Bryan was retired by WWE in 2015 when they couldn't (or wouldn't), as a result of multiple concussions, medically clear him. A couple of years spent in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and the slightest rumblings of an indie boom later, he was cleared.
That's a facetious take on things, obviously, but it was a truly magic, inconceivable moment when his in-ring return was announced three years later. And then they botched the Miz feud, somehow hitting the corner flag from an open goal position.
The Planet's Champion run salvaged that disaster, and how: Bryan was on incredible form with this unique, sanctimonious heel character, and was such a genius at presenting himself as an in-ring genius that his work getting Kofi Kingston over to World Champion level is arguably his peak. Think of the seminal ground that covers.
Even when he was inexplicably presented as just an upper midcard guy, he was outstanding. The pandemic match with AJ Styles in the PC remains WWE's most incredible under-the-radar gem.
In AEW, the American Dragon is reborn. This run too is a candidate for his best ever; the man is so phenomenal at crafting matches that he is able to orchestrate molten reactions on behalf of wrestlers who were in prelim positions just weeks prior.
And that is not even counting his blisteringly violent main event masterclasses.