Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan Retires

Back last May, when Daniel Bryan had to relinquish the Intercontinental Title due to another injury, I wrote a piece on him right here. Rereading it now, it might be my favorite thing I’ve written on this blog, or at least the top three. Back when I wrote that, we didn’t know if he would ever wrestle again. Now though, the question has been answered.

Daniel Bryan retired on Monday Night Raw last night, in an emotional moment that went almost 30 minutes over time but felt over far too son. I can’t call it a promo, because there was no “sports entertainment,” there was no payoff. There was just a man whose role on TV had always been one of dealing with under-appreciation and disrespect, finally being given an opportunity to be the star we knew he was. (more…)

Daniel Bryan

One thing I intended to do when I started this blog was profiles on wrestlers. I like thinking about their pasts, where they are currently, what they might do in the future, and what they mean to me personally. I haven’t yet written one, but with news that one of my favorite wrestlers is on the shelf indefinitely, I think it is time.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Bryan Danielson changed how I watched and view professional wrestling. In college I discovered that there were people, on the internet, who loved professional wrestling as much as me. And from these people, I learned about Ring of Honor. I’m not going to claim to be the biggest Ring of Honor fan. I was actually pretty casual about the whole thing. I like staying up to date on matches and stories, and it was hard to do that with ROH. There was no weekly TV show, only faceless people on the internet telling me “such and such is the best wrestler anywhere” and “you need to watch this match to be a wrestling fan.” Even I though could go back and watch some of their classic matches, I found it hard to get too excited about the product. There were a few exceptions. The CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe trilogy hooked me, but it was someone else who made me seek out every one of his matches.
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