Today, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and fan favorite Daniel Bryan announced on his Twitter account that he will be retiring:
Due to medical reasons, effective immediately, I am announcing my retirement. Tonight on Raw, I'll have a chance to elaborate. #gratitude
— Bryan Danielson (@bryandanielson) February 8, 2016
Daniel Bryan has been dealing with concussions throughout his career, and has been out of action since WrestleMania 31, where he won a ladder match to become the Intercontinental Champion. The last set of concussion concerns forced him to surrender the championship on Monday Night Raw on May 11, just about a month after winning it.
Bryan has been cleared by two doctors outside of WWE to get back into the ring, but the WWE’s doctors would not clear him. Instead of wrestling, Bryan has been a spokesperson for WWE and has been on several episodes of Total Divas with his wife, Brie Bella.
Daniel Bryan debuted in the WWE on the old format of NXT, where he would be under the Miz’s guidance. Fans who knew Bryan during his independent days would know that he had been trained by Shawn Michaels and William Regal, so it seemed like he could teach the Miz instead. After feuding with his “Pro Superstar,” Daniel Bryan defeated the Miz to win his first United States Championship.
The next major stretch in Daniel Bryan’s career was his heel run with the World Heavyweight Championship. Towards the end of the brand split, Daniel Bryan defeated the Big Show by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Bryan would carry the title all the way to WrestleMania 28 where he lost to Sheamus in just 18 seconds. This match, between the booking and the crowd, was the beginning of the “Yes!” movement.
After losing the World Heavyweight Championship, Bryan would turn into more of a comedy act, teaming up with Kane, in what would be called “Team Hell No.” Team Hell No would be loved by the fans, and Bryan and Kane won the WWE Tag Team Championship together. The chemistry Bryan had with Kane was so good that by the end of their run, Daniel Bryan was one of the most over Superstars on the roster.
After becoming a fan favorite, Daniel Bryan had one goal: to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. At the time, the current champion was John Cena, who would seem to have the size and strength advantage. However, when the two faced off at SummerSlam 2013 with Triple H as the special guest referee, Daniel Bryan would come out on top, pinning John Cena clean after a running knee. After the match, Triple H turned on Bryan and hit him with the Pedigree, setting up Randy Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank contract and screwing Bryan out of his title victory.
What followed in the months to come was the classic underdog story for Daniel Bryan. He knew he was the best wrestler in the company, the fans knew he was the best, but the Authority did not like the idea of “somebody like Daniel Bryan” being the face of their company. So for months, every time Bryan would be close to success and cementing himself as one of the greatest, the Authority would keep finding ways to screw him out of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
All of this lead to WrestleMania 30. Batista won the Royal Rumble for the second time months prior, and was guaranteed a title shot against Randy Orton in the WrestleMania main event. Daniel Bryan (with the help of his “occupy Raw” movement) would challenge Triple H to a match at WrestleMania where if he won, he would be put in the main event against Randy Orton and Batista.
Daniel Bryan did what he does best and overcame everything the Authority threw at him. He defeated Triple H at the beginning of WrestleMania 30 and, at the end of the show, defeated both Orton and Batista to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, in what is arguably one of the greatest moments in WWE history.
There is speculation that after Bryan officially announces his retirement tonight that he will leave WWE and go wrestle on the independent scene, since he does have clearnance from other doctors. No matter why he is retiring, or where he is going next, Daniel Bryan will go down as one of the greatest wrestlers in WWE history, whose career unfortunately ended sooner than it should have.
