CM Punk and Daniel Bryan's Road from the Indies to WWE World Champions, Pt. 2

Daniel Bryan and CM Punk are two of WWE's most talented in-ring performers. They have taken similar paths in order to get to where they are, and it is a path less traveled these days.

WWE likes to get talent young and then mold them into their ideal superstar. Guys like John Cena, Triple H and Batista spent very little time anywhere else before being hired by WWE.

Punk and Bryan, on the other hand, went through the indy circuit for years, traveling the world and performed for whatever promotion was willing to pay them.

This kind of experience has allowed them to cultivate a style that is different from the standard WWE wrestler. In Part 2, I will take a look at the path of Bryan "Daniel Bryan" Danielson from indy darling to WWE champion.

Part 1 on CM Punk has already been published and can be viewed here.

Backyard Wrestler

Much in the same way that Punk first got into wrestling, Bryan began wrestling in a backyard promotion called BCW.

He wrestled there while in High School and even won the promotions Heavyweight Championship under the nick name "The Dagger."

Once he graduated high school he enrolled at Dean Malenko's wrestling school, but it's closure forced Bryan to seek training elsewhere.

TWA and Training

In 2000 Bryan began training at Shawn Michaels wrestling school The Texas Wrestling Academy, where he won his first Pro title, teaming with Brian "Spanky" Kendrick to win the promotions Tag Team Championship.

While in this school he also trained with the likes of Lance Cade and Paul London. This is where Bryan picked up the basics to become a great wrestler, and these skills would propel him to world wide fame.

First WWE Contract and MCW

While continuing to appear for other small promotions Bryan was signed to a developmental deal with WWE where he was placed in Memphis Championship Wrestling along with his TWA partner Spanky.

While in MCW he was trained by William Regal, who he credits as one of his most influential trainers.

While there the two gained the MCW tag team titles, and Bryan would also claim the MCW Light Heavyweight Championship before the promotions ties with WWE were cut and Bryan was released from his contract.

Bryan did continue to appear for WWE however as an enhancement talent on shows like Heat and Velocity.

Wrestling in Japan

Bryan decided to hone his craft further and took off for Japan to compete with some of the best pure wrestlers in the world. He and fellow TWA alum Lanc Cade sometimes competed in tag matches as a team.

Bryan wrestled for different promotions in Japan including Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and Japan's biggest promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).

Bryan would often compete with a red, white and blue mask which was designed to match his "American Dragon" gimmick he had been using.

He had great success as both a singles and tag team wrestler, but it was with Curry Man that he was able to win the IWJP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.

Ring of Honor Founding Father

In 2002 Bryan joined the upstart promotion Ring of Honor, where he is heralded as one of the companies "Founding Fathers" along with CM Punk and Samoa Joe.

In the companies first show he competed against Low-Ki and Christopher Daniels in the main event.

Bryan had numerous feuds in ROH that made fans take notice, the most memorable of his early years being with Homicide and Austin Aries.

Aries and Bryan wrestled numerous times over the years and even had one match end up with an insane time of 80 minutes.

Despite being considered one of, if not the best, wrestler in the company he never held a major title in his early run.

As part of a storyline which allowed him to take dates in Europe and Japan he was written out of ROH by saying he had become frustrated with the business and wanted to re-evaluate his career.

Return to ROH and World Title

In 2005 Bryan returned to ROH and defeated James Gibson to win his first ROH World Title. He defended the belt against the companies best competitiors including some from other promotions.

His most notable cross-company feud was with Chris Hero, whoi had invaded ROH on behalf of Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW).

This sparked a feud where the entire rosters of both companies were at war and it culminated in a 10 man cage match which saw Bryan assault Samoa Joe mid match and end his involvement in the feud.

Another famous encounter was with Nigel McGuiness where the two faced off to unify the ROH World and Pure championships. Bryan won the second match and retired the Pure Championship as it's last champion.

One of Bryan's last defenses before losing the ROH world title to Homicide saw him defeat KENTA who was visiting as a part of a talent exchange program ROH had with Pro-Wrestling NOAH.

Injury and Return to ROH

Bryan suffered an unfortunate injury during a cage match with Colt Cabana that would keep him out of action for awhile, but he returned to ROH in 2007 and picked up right where he left off.

Bryan wrestled two matches in his return event which saw him defeat Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn. The very next night he and World Champion Takeshi Morishima teamed up to defeat KENTA and Nigel McGuiness at ROH's frist PPV Respect is Earned.

Over the next two years Bryan feuded with his old Rival Austin Aries as well as new rival Tyler Black. Both men would team with Bryan on occasion to try and win the tag titles, but never quite suceeding.

Black and Bryan had a series of matches which were based on the two men's respect for each other. Both men were lauded for their great performances.

Departure from ROH and Second Chance with WWE

On Spetember 26, 2009 Bryan Danielson faced Nigel McGuiness in what was the last match for both men in ROH. Bryan won the encounter before leaving ROH and heading off to WWE.

When he first came to WWE Bryan said he wanted to work off some ring rust by training in FCW, and WWE obliged by allowing him to go there and work out the kinks.

This may not have been the best move fro Bryan as the delay in bringing him into WWE probably led to him being featured on the first season of NXT.

Pre-WWE Accomplishments

Here is a list of Bryan's non-WWE accomplishments.

All Pro Wrestling
APW Worldwide Internet Championship 1 time
King of the Indies (2001)
All Star Wrestling
ASW World Heavy Middleweight Championship 1 time
East Coast Wrestling Association
ECWA Tag Team Championship 1 time – with Low Ki
Evolve
Match of the Year (2010) vs. Munenori Sawa on September 11
Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling
NWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship 1 time
Full Impact Pro
FIP Heavyweight Championship 1 time
International Wrestling Association
IWA Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship 1 time
Memphis Championship Wrestling
MCW Southern Light Heavyweight Championship 1 time
MCW Southern Tag Team Championship 1 time – with Spanky
NWA Mid-South
NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship 1 time
New Japan Pro Wrestling
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 1 time – with Curry Man
Best of the American Super Juniors 2004
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
PWG World Championship 2 times
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
PWI ranked him #13 of the best 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2008
PWI ranked him #15 of the best 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011
Pro Wrestling Noah
GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship 1 time
Pro Wrestling Report
Independent Wrestler of the Year 2006
Ring of Honor
ROH Pure Championship 1 time
ROH World Championship 1 time
Survival of the Fittest 2004
Texas Wrestling Alliance
TWA Tag Team Championship 1 time – with Spanky
westside Xtreme wrestling
wXw World Heavyweight Championship 1 time
Ambition 1 (2010)[90]
World Series Wrestling
WSW Heavyweight Championship 1 time
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Best Technical Wrestler 2005
Match of the Year 2007 vs. Takeshi Morishima on August 25
Most Outstanding Wrestler 2006
Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Decade (2000–2009)
WrestleSlam Awards
Technical Wrestler of the Year 2010

Source for this page's information is Wikipedia

NXT, Nexus and WWE Release

Bryan debuted in WWE as a part of the first season of NXT. His rookie was The Miz, someone who Bryan made no effort to hide his distaste for. The angle was that Bryan was far more experienced and did not want Miz as his veteran.

Bryan competed against Chris Jericho in a great match which would prove why he was a future world Champion in the making.

He ended up eliminating himself from the competition by admitting he did not deserve to go on after his losing streak.

He appeared in later episodes of NXT and gave his praise to Wade Barrett as the man who should win the competition.

The week before the famous NXT invasion angle started Bryan defeated his former Pro The Miz, and proceeded to toss him into Michael Cole after the match, a man who had done nothing but bury Bryan since his arrival in the company due to his IWC status as the best in the world.

The next week during the initial attack Bryan made the mistake of using Justin Roberts' tie to choke him, violating WWE's PG rules.

He was released from the company, much to the surprise and disappointment of many fans.

Return to the Indys

When he was released from WWE Bryan vowed to bring more attention to independant wrestling again. His first match was in CHIKARA against Eddie Kingston, a match he won.

The fans cheered Bryan and threw neck ties in the ring as a sign of respect and humor after the whole Robert's choking thing was revealed as why he was released.

Bryan wrestled all over the Indy scene for months including with promotuions Dragon Gate USA and International Wrestling Association.

His last match before being rehired by WWE was against former WWE competitor Shelton Benjamin in a winning effort.

Return to WWE and US Champion

Bryan returned to WWE as the surprise seventh member of team WWE against Nexus at SummerSlam. He was eliminated by Barrett, but in the process he reignited his feud with The Miz.

He and Miz proceeded to interfere in one another's matches until they finally faced off at Night of Champions, where Bryan would win his first WWE title by defeating Miz for the Uinted States Championship.

He defended the title against Miz and Morrison two weeks later, and again against Ted Dibiase at Survivor Series, both times winning.

His involvement in NXT season 4 was as Derek Batemans's Pro, he would also develop a story with The Bella Twins during this time which saw them compete for Bryan's affection.

Bryan ended up losing the US title to Sheamus, but it was not the last gold he would hold in WWE.

Money in the Bank

Daniel Bryan won the SmackDown money in the bank brief case and vowed to cash it in at WrestleMania against who ever was World Champion.

Over the next several months Bryan carried the case with him, sometimes almost cashing it in, but either changing his mind at the last second or never fully starting the match.

For several months Bryan was used poorly on WWE tv and it looked like he would be the first person to fail at cashing the case in.

World Champion

Daniel Bryan won his first World title at this year's TLC PPV by cashing in his MITB case against a beaten down Big Show.

Normally a person cashing in on a face might get them a bad reaction, but Bryan got the loudest pop of the night when he held that title up high.

It is great to finally see WWE have two men on top who are great champions. Bryan and Punk are great leaders for WWE and hopefully will be for years to come.

Future

What does the future hold for Daniel Bryan? Only time will tell, but if his recent performances have shown anything it is that WWE fans are read to cheer for Bryan as a top competitor.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to share your thoughts below.