SUMMARY
- Bryan Danielson wrestled in WWE's former developmental promotion called the Memphis Wrestling Championship.
- His match with John Cena in 2003 was one of the highlights of his early career; he lost to Cena on an episode of Velocity.
Bryan Danielson, originally known as Bryan Lloyd Danielson, is an American professional wrestler. He is well known for his tenure in WWE and is currently signed with AEW. The former four-time WWE World Champion has his own legacy in the Triple-H-led promotion and has headlined multiple pay-per-views.
Bryan trained under Shawn Michaels at the Texas Wrestling Academy. He worked on an independent circuit and toured the country before he was signed by WWE to work in the developmental system. He was signed to the Stamford-based promotion when it had the ‘Attitude Era’ ongoing and was booming its business. Bryan wrestled in WWE’s former developmental promotion called the Memphis Wrestling Championship.
Did you know? Bryan Danielson wrestled a few matches during the WWF Attitude Era. pic.twitter.com/mWmmYdQ2T4
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) January 7, 2024
His ring name at MWC was American Dragon, and he got a chance to train under William Regal there. Bryan had quite a successful run at MCW before WWE dissociated itself from the developmental promotion. Bryan won the MWC Light Heavyweight Championship and the MWC Tag Team Championship with Brian Kendrick.
After his release from WWE in 2001, Bryan was potentially hoping to sign with the company’s main roster, but nothing of the sort happened. He did return to make appearances in the Stamford-based promotion and wrestled a couple of matches in the early years of the ‘Attitude Era’. His match with John Cena in 2003 was one of the highlights of his early career; he lost to Cena on an episode of Velocity.
After he departed from WWE, Bryan Danielson went to ROH, where he stayed for 7 years and had great success. His performances in Ring of Honor made his reputation, and he returned to the Stamford-based promotion in 2010 as Daniel Bryan. Bryan’s second run in the company was the most memorable one, where his catchphrase “yes” became a sensation. His tag team run with Kane in Team Hell No was also dearly loved by the fans.
His career highlight came when he became the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 30. At the main event, he defeated both Randy Orton and Batista, along with other obstacles. This was an ultimate victory for him and ended his story as an underdog in the promotion.
Why did Brayn Danielson leave WWE?
After working for over a decade, Bryan left WWE in 2021. His last match was against Roman Reigns on April 30, 2021, in which he lost while giving a tough fight. Previously, he revealed the reason behind leaving WWE on the episode of The Sessions podcast with Renee Paquette.
“But really, it came down to a little bit schedule um a little bit of creative freedom, and also just this idea of I had been there for so long, yeah, maybe something a little bit new would be fun um but then also, I just I also kind of wanted to bleed,” he explained. It was a combination of different factors that led him to leave the WWE.
He had offers from AEW and WWE and was even considering being a part-time wrestler and full-time dad. Creative freedom was a big reason, and he wanted something new. He decided to quit the Stamford-based promotion and join the Jacksonville-based promotion in 2021, four months after he quit the Triple-H-led promotion.