Ranking EVERY WWE Champion From Worst To Best
21. Daniel Bryan
WWE were so stubborn about not crowning Daniel Bryan Champion on the long and winding road to WrestleMania XXX that it honestly felt like the cruel few seconds he'd temporarily held it at SummerSlam 2013 were going to be it for easily one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. The "Yes Movement" was an immovable object in buildings by then, and the longer audiences were deprived of seeing their favourite go all the way, the louder and more frustrated they grew.
The company retrospectively swore blind that they were doing all of it on purpose to create the ultimate catharsis at the 'Show Of Shows', but as late as Elimination Chamber one month prior, this was bluster and lies. Alas, the crowning moment was where the run peaked. Bryan got Kane - everybody got Kane - and then got injured. When he retired in 2016 (!) that looked as though it was all we'd ever get.
Luckily for all of us, Bryan fought for his dreams and by 2018 he was all the way back. In a testament to the state WWE was in by then, his return had already been totally mangled by the winter, setting the stage for an inspired heel turn that became comfortably the best of his run with the company. He ended AJ Styles' year with the title thanks to a low blow, had one of the best matches of the year with Brock Lesnar, then created 'The New Daniel Bryan' (hemp belt and all) for 2019's pre-WrestleMania season. There was nobody best suited to play villainous opposite to Kofi Kingston, both in the build and the glorious match itself.