THAT DOOR WAS BIG ENOUGH FOR TWO, BUT SHE REALIZED HER MISTAKE AND LET JACK DROWN.

The bitch.

If it wasnt for beer and middle fingers steve austin wouldnt be considered as good as he is

If it wasnt for rocky and branding hogan wouldnt be considered as good as he is

If it wasnt for catchphrases and routine matches the rock wouldnt be considered as good as he is

Honestly, being completely serious, Daniel Bryan is a Punk, Benoit, Guerrero level talent. If you had a massive fed, he would be mid to upper mid card. In the reliable worker match. The guaranteed 4 star match. He caught fire for a brief period, but he is not on the same level as the very top guys in the history of the business. Whether that be the very elite performers (Angle, HBK, Flair) or the megastars (Hogan, Austin, Rock).

They are all several tiers above him. I understand people enjoying his run and his big moment, but he seems to be extremely overrated on here. Think of the moments and matches and stories those top guys have had. Another level completely.

If you look at the poll above i think he is accurately rated

Maluco speaks the truth.

Bryan existed in a weird time when WWE's booking completely stopped having foresight. So they teased him winning the world title constantly, expecting to just move him out of the picture and be done with it. Once you do that to an underdog though, you've gotta have a payoff. They basically forced their own hand to give him a title run.

If not for that, he could have just kept being a fixture in the IC/US title picture and no one would have "rioted" over him not being a world champion. In an odd way, WWE's terrible booking is responsible for Daniel Bryan being kind of overrated.

Poll above doesn't tell the story of how highly rated he is on the forum. He is losing to Shawn Michaels after all.

I dunno...hes been the best worker on earth since 06 and as sokn as he had a platform to show he got over. Its what good workers do. Michaels is better though. More crosss over appeal.

Best worker from a technical wrestling standpoint, maybe.

Nah, he got over and drew everywhere he went, everytime the audience he was able to perform for grew so did his success. He was only limited by the promoters he had available to him. Hes not a worse worker just because the monopoly man wouldnt give him a job.

No. You're comparing an overrated flash in the pan to legends.

Had there been more opportunities he'd have had a decade plus of headlining.

Not comparing him to those guys at all. Just pointing out how dumb of an argument that is

Destor, you tend to waffle a lot on if we should include "what ifs" when talking about how great someone is. I remember you arguing when I'd pick a minor star over a major star because I thought if the minor star was in the other guy's situation booking-wise he would have been huge. Now you're arguing that exact point for Bryan.

Maybe you swayed me? MAYBE THIS IS YOUR FAULT

I mean, im not arguing he's better than hbk based off what ifs. Hbk is better. Im just saying danielson was the best worker in the world for a lot longer than he was on a national stage. He just didnt get to show it to people until far too late.

And thats his legacy, too little too late. But he was still the gold standard in my eyes.

It's quite possible. If so, we need to go re-visit that Undertaker "should he be given so much credit for a booked streak" conversation again. lol

God damn...2 of my top 5 favorites of all time.

This is a tough call for me. I'm gonna go with Bryan mostly because I had the benefit of enjoying his entire career as it was happening. I was invested in him from very early on and it made the eventual WM30 culmination feel all the more surreal to me.

Shawn had already had his first retirement before I started watching wrestling. While I obviously loved watching him in his second run, I never felt that I got to enjoy the same level of emotional investment as people who got to follow his run in the 90s. I can only imagine what it must've felt like for Shawn fans to actually have him come back 4 years after he was meant to be done.

Having said that, I'll go with Bryan knowing full well he's gonna lose anyway. Here's hoping Shawn can go the distance.

When you say "worker" though...

Do you mean the complete package of what makes a great pro wrestler?

I think he had every tool to make money for any promoter that was willing to promote him. I think not signing him in his prime cost vince money; i think he's that good. And have for over a decade. He has an ear for a crowd that is so rare. He can call an audible so fast and adapt to the flux of a crowd in real time in ways few people can. And at a highhhhhh level and technique and athleticism. Frankly only Michaels benoit angle and Guerrero have ever been able to do it at that level, he's a very unique talent. And he didnt develope these skill in developmental.

In 2017 his lack of sex appeal hurts him more than it would have pre 95ish as well.

Well listen, I don't wanna fuck the guy but that's beside the point. I think he lacks the "larger than life" aura to make him a star. He's a likable underdog. Only so much you can do with that on the top of the card. In the midcard title picture though, he could have been holding down the division for years.

I think hes more like foley. He connects in a human every man way. Not a rockstar way, like rock or hogan.

More like Dusty Rhodes than Flair. Theres money in both.

I think Foley and Dusty were both "larger than life" in their simpler ways.

Gonna just put this out there, when Daniel Bryan first joined the WWE I didn't like him at all. Wasn't until his world title win and heel turn that I actually started to get into him. Before it was like "Ugh, what do people see in this guy?"

But you came to see it or...?

Also gonna say I hated/loathed HBK around the time of the original DX and his feud with Bret, because he just legit seemed like a douchebag/asshole. It was only when I was older that I found out that apparently he actually was at that time in real life too.

Yeah, I did. Thought he was "gold" from the time of his loss at WM in 23 seconds through to when he beat John Cena at Summerslam. Afterwards things got a bit weird, and his promos got way worse due to leaning heavily on "YES", but he provided some of my favourite moments ever.

I mean, I do remember him having some good matches with Dolph Ziggler or somebody before his world title win...... but I was just like "That was a good match, but I still don't really care about this guy at all, he is so dull and bland"

Went with Bryan because the whole Wrestlemania situation. For the crowd to be that involved and actually force the entire event to be changed will always be special to me. Special moments like this keep me watching wrestling. HB K was an insane talent but he never had that IT moment that I saw or can recall. Yes if I was bu8ilding a wrestling company I would take HB K first but that isn't the question.

Like LJ, I disliked Bryan soooooooo much when he came to the WWE.

Hot thread btw

I believe that was the same weekend he had that 2 out 3 falls match with Nigel as well. Danielson's run as champ might be one of my favorites.

That period, well Gabes RoH run really, was just spectacular.

Shawn Michaels is probably the greatest in-ring performer since the WWF/E went national. Daniel Bryan was arguably the best performer since Shawn Michaels. HBK could be trumped on the business end, but Bryan isn't the guy to bring that fight.

Yep. Defended the belt against Nigel at Epic Encounter II in a 2 out of 3 falls match that went an hour. Then had another hour long 2 out of 3 falls at Gut Check the next night against Colt Cabana where he injured his shoulder 6 minutes into the match.... He also had an hour long draw with Samoa Joe 2 weeks before that. His next title defense after his injury was of course his classic against KENTA at Glory By Honor V Night 2.

Actually that match with Nigel was a rematch from the week before, which was the critically acclaimed match where Bryan unified the ROH World and Pure titles at Unified. That match is most remembered for Bryan grabbing both of Nigel's arms and slamming him repeatedly head first into the ring post, busting him open the hard way.

Hbk, even with all the backstage bullshit he helped pave for smaller wrestlers

Damnit damnit damnit! HBK. Its pretty much undeniable that he is in a league all his own.

And if you weren't around for his first run its fine because it pales in comparison to his second run( IMO)

I still think Bryans run is a phenomenon don't know that anybody else couldve pulled that off. but HBK owns him for his sheer library.