Bryan Danielson (born May 22, 1981) is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE and performing under the ring name Daniel Bryan, where he holds the WWE Tag Team Championship with Kane as part of Team Hell No. He has also been known by the ring name, and later nickname, the American Dragon.
In major promotions, Danielson is a two-time World Champion, as a one-time World Heavyweight Champion in WWE, and a one-time Ring of Honor World Champion. He has also held the top championships of several independent promotions, as he is a two-time Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) Champion, a one-time Westside Xtreme Wrestling Heavyweight champion, and a one-time FIP Heavyweight Champion. As well as these World Championships, Danielson also won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship once in Pro Wrestling Noah and is officially recognized as the final ROH Pure Champion, as he unified the Pure Title with the ROH World title in 2006. He also won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in New Japan Pro Wrestling with Curry Man.
Until 2010, Danielson primarily competed in ROH and on the independent circuit. but he also worked in FIP, PWG, and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He has also worked internationally, most notably in Pro Wrestling Noah through ROH's involvement in the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance, a global organization of cooperative promotions that allow their competitors to travel abroad to other companies. He also competed in a handful of matches in WWE in 2003, before signing an actual contract with the company in 2009.
In June 2010, shortly after the end of the first season of the WWE NXT show in which Danielson participated, WWE announced that he had been released from his contract. He returned to WWE in August at SummerSlam, and won the WWE United States Championship the following month. On July 17, 2011, Bryan won the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match. On December 18, 2011, Bryan cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Big Show to become World Heavyweight Champion.
Read more about Daniel Bryan: Gimmick, Personal Life, In Wrestling, Championships and Accomplishments
Famous quotes containing the words daniel and/or bryan:
“Fair is my Love, and cruel as she’s fair
Her brow shades frowns, although her eyes are sunny;
Her smiles are lightning, though her pride despair;
And her disdains are gall, her favours honey.
A modest maid, decked with a blush of honour,
Whose feet do tread green paths of youth and love,”
—Samuel Daniel (1562–1619)
“Do you know I believe that [William Jennings] Bryan will force his nomination on the Democrats again. I believe he will either do this by advocating Prohibition, or else he will run on a Prohibition platform independent of the Democrats. But you will see that the year before the election he will organize a mammoth lecture tour and will make Prohibition the leading note of every address.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)