2002:
- Bryan Danielson Vs Christopher Daniels Vs Low Ki – ROH The Era of Honor Begins – 4 ½*
2003:
- Bryan Danielson Vs John Cena – WWE Velocity 02/08/2003 - 10 years before their Summerslam main event for the WWE Championship this match took place on WWE’s B-grade weekly show velocity. Bryan would just be an enhancement talent for Cena – but it really goes to show how great these two men would become many years later in the WWE.
2004:
- Bryan Danielson Vs Samoa Joe – ROH The Midnight Express Reunion – 4*
2005:
- Bryan Danielson Vs James Gibson - ROH Glory by Honor IV – Bryan Danielson was always seen as a great wrestler for Ring of Honor and for pretty much all independent promotions and on this night he would be rewarded for that. With James Gibson returning to WWE they needed someone to take the ROH World Championship off him and the fell on to Bryan who would deserve the championship. He would go on to retain the championship for 15 months.
2006:
- Bryan Danielson Vs AJ Styles – ROH Dissension - Before both men were in the WWE they were killing the independents and making a name for themselves and proving to every why they should be signed to the biggest wrestling company in the world, it’s a shame these two aren’t wrestling in the WWE at the same time.
- Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm - Better Than Our Best 2006 - This is one of the first Bryan Danielson matches I watched, I remember this getting put on YouTube (or some video streaming website) in 2007, and randomly found this online and watched this whole match on a blurry 240p – 360p video. Many years later I got to watch it in higher quality and I thought I’d include this match because it’s one of my favourite Danielson matches from his ROH Championship run.
- Team ROH (Bryan Danielson, Ace Steel, Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Homicide & Samoa Joe) Vs Team CZW (Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Eddie Kingston, Nate Webb & Necro Butcher) - Death Before Dishonor IV - I wish this match got brought up more, it was the blow-off to arguably one of my favorite ROH storylines (ROH Vs CWZ). Danielson who was a young ROH World Champion would go to show how great he was amongst all the talented wrestlers in this match.
- Bryan Danielson Vs Roderick Strong – ROH Supercard of Honor – 4 ¼*
- Bryan Danielson Vs Samoa Joe – ROH Fight of the Century – 4 ¼*
- Bryan Danielson Vs Nigel McGuinness – ROH Unified – 4 ¾* - This was the first Nigel McGuinness match I ever watched, and I still remember the first time watching it – I absolutely loved it. This is one of my favorite Bryan matches as well, they work so well with each other inside the ring. The match really does show some unremorseful disturbing head-butts (especially the ones to the ring-post which are gruesome), which both men agree that they regret doing. It’s really unfortunate that McGuinness never got signed to WWE when he was still able to wrestling, as well as Bryan being able to wrestle because these two men would’ve had magic inside a WWE ring. I’ve always believed this match should get a 5 star rating.
- Bryan Danielson Vs Kenta – ROH Glory by Honor V – Night 2 – 4 ¾
- Bryan Danielson Vs Homicide – ROH Final Battle 2006 – 4 ¼* - This was the end of Danielson’s ROH World Championship reign, in arguably one of the best championships history (past or present for the company). This match is very good as well, I hope I can find a link to this match so everyone can watch it. I know I’ve mentioned it many times at this point but Bryan has magic with almost everyone he steps into the ring with. He really is one of the most unique and special wrestlers that we don’t get a lot of anymore – a king of the 4 star matches.
2007:
- Bryan Danielson & Takeshi Morishima Vs Kenta & Nigel McGuinness – ROH Respect is Earned – 4*
- Bryan Danielson Vs Nigel McGuinness – ROH Domination - 4 ½*
- Bryan Danielson Vs Takeshi Morishima - ROH Manhattan Mayhem – 4 ¾* - This was the 2007 Pro Wrestling Match of the Year and there’s a good reason for it. I’ve always seen this match as a great ‘David Vs. Goliath’ match-up. I don’t want to spoil the match too much, but I highly recommend it.
2008:
- Bryan Danielson Vs Austin Aries – ROH Take No Prisoner – 4*
- Bryan Danielson Vs Claudio Castagnoli – ROH Television 25/07/2008 - It’s a shame I can’t find more match videos of Bryan before he joined WWE, because there is tonnes of classics on them – however, this video was available in good quality on the ROH Youtube page, so I thought I’d include this. These are two fantastic performers of their craft and I wish Bryan could still wrestle today because I’d love to see these competing for the World Championship.
- Bryan Danielson Vs Tyler Black – ROH New Horizons – 4 ½*
2009:
- Bryan Danielson Vs Nigel McGuinness - ROH Glory By Honor VIII: The Final Countdown – This was Danielson’s final ROH match and it was against his long-time rival Nigel McGuinness. This match was a really good send off for Danielson, but what means more is what happens after the match with Danielson and all the crowd. I wasn’t able to find this match online, however I found the post-match celebrations.
2010:
- Daniel Bryan Vs Chris Jericho – NXT 02/2010 – This was the first ever NXT match and Chris Jericho had requested to work with Danielson because of all the buzz he had heard about him and because of matches he had seen that involved him. It’s not a long match, and neither mans best match but it was something special seeing these two face off in the squared circle.
- Team WWE (Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Edge, John Cena, John Morrison & R-Truth) Vs The Nexus (Wade Barrett, Darren Young, David Otunga, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Michael Tarver & Skip Sheffield) – WWE Summerslam 2010 - 3 ½* - Daniel Bryan had been fired from WWE after his Raw debut (post-NXT) when he chocked announcer Justin Roberts with a tie which was a big no-no because the show was PG (and because I believe somehow it relates to Chris Benoit, could be wrong on this). But Team WWE needed another partner for the match, and everyone believed it would be The Miz.. but no John Cena would announce seconds before the match started that WWE had brought back Daniel Bryan and that he would apart of their team.
- Daniel Bryan Vs The Miz – WWE Night of Champions 2010 – 3 ½* - The Miz was Bryan’s ‘pro’ in NXT earlier that year and the would argue with each other back and forth so it fit perfect that Bryan’s first feud in WWE would be against him, for the US Championship nonetheless.
- Daniel Bryan Vs John Morrison Vs The Miz – WWE Hell in a Cell 2010 – 3 ½* - Back to back great PPV matches between Miz and Bryan, this time with the addition of Morrison and a falls count anywhere submission match it was one of the most memorable for that year.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Dolph Ziggler – WWE Bragging Rights 2010 – 3 ½* - Two young champions, representing their retrospective brand and putting on a classic between each other. This match opened the show and I have talked quite highly about it before. Personally wish the rating on this match was much higher. They would go on to have two great matches the following week on Raw and Smackdown.
2011:
- Daniel Bryan Vs Cody Rhodes Vs Heath Slater Vs Justin Gabriel Vs Kane Vs Sheamus Vs Sin Cara Vs Wade Barrett – WWE Money in the Bank 2011 – 4* - This is arguably one of the best PPV’s of the modern era, and this match was the first one on an already stacked card. Many peple going into this match believed Barrett or Rhodes would be winning this match, because WWE saw them as future big WWE World Champions, but in shocking fashion in a ruckous Chicago crowd Daniel Bryan would climb the ladder and grab the briefcase to secure himself a future World Championship opportunity. This made people believe that WWE had faith in WWE to make a mega star with them, whilst there is some truth to that, people forget that following this Bryan would go on to be on dark matches before PPV’s and not really capitalise on this victory.
- Daniel Bryan vs William Regal – WWE Superstars 10/11/2011 - This may just be a throwaway match, but I thought I’d include it because it a was a ‘teacher vs student’ kind of moment. Regal helped train Bryan when he was young, and always gave him advice when he joined WWE. It’s also funny to see the prank Bryan pulled backstage with the sound people when Regal is coming out.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Big Show – WWE TLC 2011 - Earlier on in my recap of Money in the Bank 2011, I said that WWE never really had total faith in Bryan to being a world champion, but to back up those claims i’ll say this – Bryan wasn’t even on this show when it started, he was doing signings nearby, and last minute WWE made the decision to allow him to cash in on Big Show. It’s a good moment nonetheless I’ll say, Bryans first World Championship in under two years in the WWE brand, he would go on to become one of the biggest stars of the modern era and this was just a start.
2012:
- Daniel Bryan Vs CM Punk – Raw 27/02/2012 - This is one of the first times these two would compete against each other in WWE and on Raw, this is a rematch to their controversial Smackdown match, and despite the ending being a bit convoluted I still really enjoy the match.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Sheamus – Wrestlemania 28 - Whilst Bryan was meant to be looked as a ‘joke champion’ he would become one of the most over WWE wrestlers because he would chant ‘Yes’ in a sarcastic manner.. ironically this is what helped him become one of the most over wrestlers of all time. That yes chant filled hundreds of arenas.. hell even stadiums. The chant took on a life of its on, it became chants at hockey games and basketball games, it just became ‘the thing’ in pop culture. So yeah Bryan would lose the title in 18 seconds, on the first match on the card, but I guess it balanced out that the chant and Bryan himself got so over because of it.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Sheamus – WWE Extreme Rules 2012 – 4* - Following a 18 second defeat at Wrestlemania 28, Daniel Bryan got to compete against Sheamus in a 25+ 2 out of 3 falls match really showing WWE audiences how great they really were.
- Daniel Bryan Vs CM Punk – WWE Over the Limit 2012 – 4 ½* - These two ‘indy-darlings’ would finally meet in a main-event of a WWE PPV only to be overshadowed by the other underwhelming main-event produced by John Lauranitis and John Cena. Although they’d give a us a tease of something that we’d all like to see at a Wrestlemania.
- Daniel Bryan & Kane Vs Kofi Kingston & R-Truth – WWE Night of Champions 2012 – 2 ¼* - In 2012 in a strange fashion Bryan playing the heel doing the obnoxious ‘yes’ and ‘no’ chant the crowds were loving him, and the WWE had started a feud with Kane and Bryan throughout the Summer, and then they decided to transition Bryan into a face.. sorta. Kane and Bryan would turn into a tag team and had a memorable moment where they ‘hugged it out’ and various ‘Anger Management’ segments. They were put into a tag team championship match at Night of Champions, and won and became a running joke that each member was ‘the’ tag team champion.
- Daniel Bryan, Kane & Ryback Vs The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) – WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2012 – 4 ½* - This was The Shields debut match in WWE and it really proved to audiences who didn't know the three members just how great they were and how they were gonna take the WWE to greater places. Bryan got to work with Rollins for the first time since 2008 in their Ring of Honor days, which was fantastic but just a preview of what we should get in the future. All 6 men put on a great performance and really outstanding showing by everyone, one of the best debut matches of all time.
2013:
- Daniel Bryan, Kane & Undertaker Vs The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) – Raw 22/04/2013 - Whilst this was a special Raw because it was Undertakers first match on Raw in years, he was teaming with his younger brother Kane, reuniting the Brothers of Destruction.. and teaming with Kane’s partner Daniel Bryan. It’s one of those rare, random great Raw matches that I hope people get the chance to watch. The Shield were so over on WWE television that their entrance for this match/show was them arriving via Helicopter. It’s rare to get a match and appearance with Undertaker outside of Wrestlemania, but it’s also rare to be able to defeat Undertaker – but that’s what The Shield did, they would defeat The Undertaker & the rest of his team.
- Daniel Bryan, Kane & Randy Orton Vs The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) – *Smackdown 14/06/2013 - In shocking fashion, this was the first time The Shield lost on WWE television, and it happened on a Smackdown instead of a big PPV, or just PPV in general. Strange booking aside, it was actually a really good match and all six men work well together.*
- Daniel Bryan Vs Randy Orton – Raw 24/06/2013 - This match had months of build up between it, where Bryan thought Kane & Orton were weak links in their tag matches, and the reason why they lost to the Shield. But through screwy finish matches and fighting with each other these men put on a great performance on this night. Rumors had started flying around that Bryan was set to get a big push in WWE around this time, after beating the Shield, people expected Bryan to win the Money in the Bank match and challenge Cena at mania (which happened, but with no Money in the Bank involved). I feel like people have really forgotten how great this match really is, I urge people to go back and watch this match.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Antonio Cesaro – Raw 22/07/2013 – 4* - This match took place during a Gauntlet Match with Bryan’s first match against Cesaro’s tag partner Jack Swagger in an alright match, this followed it and absolutely stole the show, the match following it against Ryback unfortunately couldn’t live up to potential. For being Bryan’s second match of the night it really is something special and fantastic to see how these two men work together in the squared-circle.
- Daniel Bryan Vs John Cena – WWE Summerslam 2013 – 4 ½* - John Cena chose Daniel Bryan to be his big Summerslam opponent, and it really started off the big Rise of Daniel bryan, the ovation when he was chose is fantastic. This may be one of John Cena’s best matches of all time, as well as Daniel Bryan. They work so perfectly with each other and even bring up a call back to their match back 10 years ago in velocity. This match is one of the best Summerslam main events of all time, and honestly really deserved this rating. The lead to the match was perfect with Bryan calling Cena a parody of wrestling, saying he was ‘more style then substance’ – both men equally backed up their claims and statements with each other. An additional part of this story would be when Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon would return and say that Bryan needed a more corporate look, but not before Triple H would make a surprise return and say that he would call the match right down the middle and declared himself the referee for the match. Whilst he called it down the middle allowing Bryan to cleanly defeat John Cena to become WWE Champion, when the match finished Triple H would turn on Bryan by pedigreeing him and letting Randy Orton cash in on him. This would set up for Bryan becoming the most over wrestler in WWE in the coming months with a Bryan Vs. Authority storyline.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Randy Orton – WWE Hell in a Cell 2013 - This is the end of the Randy Orton/Daniel Bryan PPV feud, in shockingly fashion these two really didn’t have great PPV matches, and a lot of that was due to the finishes of their matches. Even this match had somewhat a screwy finish as Shawn Michaels (who was referee) delivered Sweet Chin Music to Bryan because he attacked his friend Triple H. It’s weird, but still I think this was their best PPV match against each other so I thought I’d include it. People took this as the end of the Daniel/Authority feud, it wouldn’t be but simply a pause in the feud.
- Daniel Bryan & CM Punk Vs Erick Rowan & Luke Harper – WWE Survivor Series 2013 – 3 ½* - This was a really fun match, you had two of the best wrestlers of all time finally team up to take on newcomers of the Wyatt Family - Rowan & Harper. I really wish somehow this match started laying the seeds for a potential Bryan/Punk match at Wrestlemania 30. I think that’s what a lot of people had wished for that year, I just think it would be great. But what we got was equally as good or depending who you ask, even better.
2014:
- Daniel Bryan & Bray Wyatt Vs The Uso’s – Raw 13/01/2014 - This match isn’t the best, and honestly it’s pretty short but I thought I’d include it because of the post-match moment. To give a short review, The Wyatt Family had converted Bryan into their family to be one with them, then two weeks after this Bryan would break away from the Family and lead into the biggest yes chant of all time from the whole arena in sync. If you don’t want to watch the full match, I’ve also linked the post-match segment from YouTube, right here.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Bray Wyatt – WWE Royal Rumble 2014 – 4* - Probably one of the best non-Royal Rumble matches of all time. Following Daniel Bryans face turn after two weeks of Bryan being a cult member to Bray, they squared off and what starts 2014 off as a great year for wrestling in WWE. Also the week prior to this match it gave us this moment I’m honestly surprised this match doesn’t get brought up more for how great both these two work together. Something that really does confuse me about the fans backlash for the Rumble match later that night is that they wanted Bryan to be in the match – which is fair enough. But why did no one complain about Wyatt not being put in the match? I mean he wins this match – he earned a place in that match, but hey I’m just complaining and bitching now. Great match in both mens career, probably Wyatts best single match – highly recommend.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Randy Orton Vs Cesaro Vs Christian Vs John Cena Vs Sheamus – WWE Elimination Chamber 2014– 3 ¾* - I'll be honest with you, there's been many Elimination Chamber matches, some good and some bad, in the modern era of WWE most have been pretty 'eh' to say the least, but this one gives it some redeeming points. The addition of the ongoing ‘Authority screw Daniel Bryan’ in some fashion is seen in this match, and WWE really play on it with showing the audiences displeasure with it.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Triple H – Wrestlemania 30 – 4 ¼* - This feud started back in August of 2013, when Triple H turned heel and screwed Daniel Bryan out of the WWE Championship. The Authority believed that Bryan was a ‘B+ Player’ and didn’t deserve the main event spotlight. Now not to say too much on that, but when your two main event stars are in a crowded ring of wrestlers and trying to sell a big Tables Ladders and Chairs World Championship unification match, and a ‘B+ player’ is just standing there and getting more cheers and chants then the two men being showcased, is he really just a ‘B+ player’. The build to the match not only has one of the best promos leading into a match of all time, but also involves one of my favourite Raw segments of all time. Probably Triple H's greatest Wrestlemania match (besides the Wrestlemania 20 match), this is anything short of a 5 star match for me, I’m really surprised it was rated a 4 ¼ making it lower rated the main event for this Wrestlemania. It was unbelievable the chemistry between these two; two different styles of wrestling come together to make a great bond. This would be Bryan's first match of the night, and he had a long way to go before he could make history.*
- Daniel Bryan Vs Randy Orton Vs Batista – Wrestlemania 30 – 4 ½* - The Miracle on Bourbon Street!’ a great call from announcer Michael Cole. The saga of Daniel Bryan's chase to become the WWE Champion would pay off in this match, and oh boy - those months of getting angry, seeing the Authority always win and complaining online absolutely worth it for this moment. Batista who returned and won the Royal Rumble match wasn’t looked fondly on by the crowd, but WWE came to their senses and helped make this Wrestlemania main event one of the most memorable ones of all time. It’s almost like somehow every 10th Wrestlemania WWE pull off something magical with wrestlers who aren’t the ‘norm’. Wrestlemania 10 saw Bret Hart have 2 matches and win the WWF Championship, Wrestlemania 20 saw Chris Benoit overcome all the odds against Shawn Michaels and Triple H, and Wrestlemania 30 had Daniel Bryan not only defeat Triple H, but defeat two other former members of Evolution in the triple threat match to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion. I thought I’d include the Daniel Bryan’s celebration on Raw from the following night as well.
2015:
- Daniel Bryan Vs Seth Rollins – Raw 02/02/2015 - This match was to see who would face Roman Reigns at Fastlane 2015 in a number one contenders match for Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 31. Nonetheless I wish these two could’ve had a decent feud before Bryan retired.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Roman Reigns – WWE Fastlane 2015 – 4 ½* - To say that Roman is a bad wrestler would be a big lie and would just be fans being negative about everything about him. This match goes to prove it, Roman and Bryan worked great with each other – however I do see where the big complaint is in Roman Reigns matches. He plays the Superman role just like Cena used too, but it’s very easy to see. However the fans really believed that somehow, someway that Bryan could win this match and find himself involved in the main event of Wrestlemania 31 for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. However, that doesn’t come to fruition – but truthfully knowing about his neck injuries and his multiple concussions it’s probably good he wasn’t placed in a match against Brock Lesnar and possibly further injure himself.
- Daniel Bryan Vs Dolph Ziggler - Raw 30/03/2015 - This match was following the Wrestlemania 31 Ladder Match and it’s very good and gets a special moment from the crowd when they give a standing-ovation to both wrestlers. The ending of the match also has the return of WWE Superstar, Sheamus with a unique new look.
- Daniel Bryan & John Cena Vs Cesaro & Tyson Kidd – Smackdown 16/04/2015 – This was Daniel Bryan’s last professional wrestling match and it involved a high-class of superstar. Tagging with future brother-in-law and past rival, facing off against a great wrestler in Tyson Kidd and long time friend Cesaro in a really great tag team match. It’s a shame that Bryan’s career had to unfortunately come to end, but he left us with many great matches and moments to remember him by. Whether it’d be his great matches, his ROH Championship run, his NXT period, the World Championship run, his comedic teaming with the devil’s favourite demon Kane, feuding with John Cena into Summerslam, his long feud with the Authority or his final run – Bryan is one of the greatest wrestlers of this generation and its really fortunate to see how big he became.
Unfortunately, in February of 2016, Bryan would return to WWE programming to announce that he was officially retiring from professional wrestling because of how injured he really was from the concussions. If you’d like to watch his full retirement speech I have linked it. Fortunately however, for all his fans we get to see Bryan on a regular occasion because he is the General Manager of Smackdown Live and the host for Talking Smack.
