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After many months of speculation, it was finally announced on Monday afternoon that Daniel Bryan would be throwing in the towel on his pro wrestling career. Shortly before he made the announcement on Twitter leading up to an appearance in his home state of Washington, rumors surfaced that Bryan recently attempted to resign from WWE but was blocked by Vince McMahon. Based on his comments on RAW regarding a new set of medical tests a week and a half ago, it sounds like that may indeed be true. He may have been trying to leave so he could get back in the ring with New Japan Pro Wrestling and/or the promotion that gave him his start, Ring of Honor, but what he saw in the most recent tests on his brain were alarming enough for him to make the official decision to hang up his boots.
All of that out of the way, the important part is that Bryan Danielson, known to most of the world as Daniel Bryan, is no longer a professional wrestler. That is a very hard sentence to type and an even harder sentiment to understand, but it’s true. At 34 years old, the man considered by many over the course of the past decade to be the best in the world has retired from active competition. His goodbye speech at the end of Monday night’s episode of the show was emotional. It was heartfelt, it was funny, it was inspiring — it was everything the man has been to so many wrestling fans for the entirety of the last 16 years.
Now it’s all over. From humble beginnings as a kid from Washington training in Texas under the legendary Shawn Michaels and a short stint in WWF developmental where he met and trained under William Regal, to being known as a “founding father” of independent promotion Ring of Honor, Bryan rapidly became one of the best wrestlers in the world. He traversed the United States and the world and built up the reputation that gave him the moniker “Best in the World” inside the ring, but he was also known as one of the most personable, approachable and kind men outside of it.
He eventually left the independents after helping create the now loosely WWE-affiliated EVOLVE promotion when he was signed to a WWE contract for a second time in 2009. He debuted on the original weird game show version of NXT in February 2010 with a very good match against then World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho. He ended up going 0-10 on NXT and many fans felt like the joke was on us. But he ended up avenging his mistreatment when he defeated The Miz for the United States Championship, and from there it was nothing but up, up, up.
Bryan won Money in the Bank and cashed it in on The Big Show, then went on to beat Big Show and Mark Henry at the same time to hold onto the title in a move that was very unexpected. Then he got his face kicked off by Sheamus and the floodgates opened. The crowd was not pleased by what occurred and the Yes Movement, though it had not yet been adorned with its signature word, was born.
One can go on and on about the ups and downs of Bryan’s rise to superstardom in WWE, but the bottom line is that it was spawned from respect. When Bryan was a bad guy the audience actually enjoyed booing him because it was fun watching him perform his craft. When the crowd felt he was wronged and believed that they were cheated out of being able to see him do what he does better than anybody else, they said so. They said it long and loud and didn’t stop until they were sure that everybody heard them. And then they screamed some more.
Bryan is a great person and was a great wrestler. Wrestling fans have been robbed of probably the greatest wrestler of our generation and one of the best of all time, but we can all be grateful that there are 15 years of matches and moments to look back on. And the added bonus is that he’s alive and he’s young, so now he can have a full, healthy life with his wife and soon enough their children.
Bryan Danielson deserves a big thank you from fans everywhere.
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