3 Highs and 2 Lows from Daniel Bryan's WWE WrestleMania appearances
Daniel Bryan will defend the WWE Championship against Kofi Kingston in one of the most anticipated matches of WrestleMania 35 on April 7.
Five years ago, Bryan was the ultimate underdog heading into WrestleMania 30, where he defeated Triple H in the opening match of the night before winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat against Randy Orton and Batista in the main event.
Now, he finds himself in a match against somebody who, much like Bryan in 2014, has overcome authority figures and numerous obstacles to finally achieve his dream of challenging for WWE’s most prestigious title on the grand stage of WrestleMania.
Looking back at Bryan’s past experiences at WWE’s biggest event of the year, it is only natural that everybody points to the high of WrestleMania 30, aka ‘YestleMania’, but he has also suffered some lows at “The Show of Shows”.
In this article, let’s take a look at five of his most notable ‘Mania moments, taking into account both the good and the bad.
#5 Low: Demotion from the main PPV
Everybody remembers Daniel Bryan doing double-duty at WrestleMania 30, but did you know that he also competed in two matches at WrestleMania XXVII?
The #1 contender for the United States Championship at the time, he was originally due to face Sheamus in a title match on the main pay-per-view. However, the match was switched to before the event instead. Nowadays, that would not be such a terrible thing – at least the kickoff show is streamed online and on the WWE Network – but in 2011 the pre-show matches were simply dark matches.
The US title match, which had a Lumberjack stipulation, ended in a disqualification, leading to a Battle Royal. Bryan made it to the final two before he was eliminated by the victorious Great Khali.
Needless to say, this was definitely a career low for Bryan, especially as he built up a ton of momentum a few months earlier when he was rehired following his short-lived stint in The Nexus.