7. He's Paid His Dues
In days gone by, a professional wrestler was a nobody until he'd paid his dues. During the territorial system era, you couldn't just walk into a company and expect to make it to the top, and it was virtually unheard of for a rookie to have any sort of early success. Every worker had to spend time on the road, taking lumps and bumps, doing jobs and learning the business. Respect was earned the extremely hard way, never given, and once it was gained it was a matter of pride. Today that system is no more. Daniel Bryan represents the last of a dying breed, men who came up through the independents, putting their bodies on the line in front of 30 people in high school gyms for less money than the gas it took to drive there. All because they had a passion for professional wrestling. He made his name in Ring of Honor and various independents as well as Japan as "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson and had some classic matches all around the world. WWE now prefers to recruit athletes from other sports and have adopted an unofficial policy of shunning workers who've come up through the indies. The reason is so they can work with talent as an as-yet-to-be-molded piece of clay, creating the exact type of performer they prefer. The veterans of the game, who're admittedly fading from the locker room more and more, resent these men who make it to the main roster with a couple of years or less of experience. But not Daniel Bryan. The talent respect him because they're aware of the bumps he took along the road to his newfound stardom. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG2B_-RUl2w