Bryan Danielson

Bryan Lloyd Danielson is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the William Regal led stable Blackpool Combat Club, alongside Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta. He is also known for his time in WWE where he worked from 2009 to 2021 under the ring name Daniel Bryan. Danielson began his professional wrestling career in 1999 on the independent circuit, and signed an 18-month contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), in 2000; he later went on to make uncontracted appearances in WWE until 2003. He joined the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion in 2002, wrestling in the main event of the promotion’s first event, The Era of Honor Begins. Considered a mainstay of ROH, he stayed with the company until 2009 and, during his career, won the ROH World Championship and ROH Pure Championship once each, unifying them at one point, and was the inaugural winner of the annual Survival of the Fittest tournament. Due to his contributions to ROH, he was part of the inaugural class of the ROH Hall of Fame in 2022. Danielson also wrestled extensively in Japan, winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship in Pro Wrestling Noah and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (with Curry Man) in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Danielson also won numerous titles on the independent circuit, including two PWG World Championships and the FIP Heavyweight Championship and the wXw World Heavyweight Championship once each. In 2009, Danielson again signed with WWE, but was fired for three months in 2010. Upon his return, he went onto win the WWE Championship four times,[Note 1] the World Heavyweight Championship once, and the United States and Intercontinental Championships once each. Danielson also won the WWE Tag Team Championship as part of Team Hell No (with Kane) and the SmackDown Tag Team Championship (with Erick Rowan), thereby becoming WWE’s 26th Triple Crown Champion and 15th Grand Slam Champion. He also won the Money in the Bank ladder match in 2011, won Superstar of the Year at the 2013 Slammy Awards, and headlined several major WWE pay-per-view events, including their flagship event, WrestleMania, in 2014 and 2021. Danielson retired from wrestling in 2016 due to injuries arising from multiple concussions, which led to seizures and a brain lesion. He then took on a non-wrestling role for WWE as the on-screen general manager of SmackDown. He remained in the role until 2018, when he was unexpectedly cleared by doctors to return to in-ring competition. After his WWE contract expired in May 2021, Danielson signed with AEW, debuting in September that year.