Every WWE Gimmick Match And The Wrestlers That Defined Them
13. Elimination Chamber Match - Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan has appeared inside of the Chamber on far fewer occasions than most, but his expert manipulation skill separates itself from a homogenised canon of thrilling - if unmemorable - fare.
The Chamber match exists to make the predictable palatable ahead of WrestleMania. By February/March, the events of April are mostly in sight; the Chamber is a means of padding out the calendar with some fun, inessential brutality in order to maintain product interest or manoeuvre the last moving part.
In Daniel Bryan's hands, for a stretch, he is capable of disrupting plans.
In 2012, Bryan convinced an entire arena that a lower card comedy act was set to headline WrestleMania XXVIII. Over three pulsating minutes, the most unlikely drama ever, the prospect of World Heavyweight Champion Santino Marella Vs. Sheamus was a significantly less ridiculous notion than those words, in that combination, suggest. That is a weird, bot-generated match. On the night, it was nearly a reality. A popular one, no less.
Seven years later, Bryan repeated the trick, with a far more serious performance, in which he foreshadowed and made indisputable the main event of WrestleMania 35.