How Daniel Bryan has lobbied for underused talent in WWE
WWE made some cuts to their staff in the ring and behind the scenes on Wednesday that have left many wrestling fans shook.
It's a sad day. Performers who have put themselves on the line during a pandemic to entertain us on top of years hard work that is working for WWE and they now find themselves out of a job.
It's hard to find a positive in any of this, but I wanted to shine a spotlight on a man that has had wrestlers' best interests at heart for a long time - Daniel Bryan.
The 38-year-old fought his way back from retirement and returned to the ring at WrestleMania 34 in 2018.
Since then, he has been WWE champion again, reignited a rivalry with The Miz, helped make KofiMania, had a complete character change from the Yes Movement to The New Daniel Bryan, helped establish The Fiend and put Sami Zayn over at WrestleMania.
That's just a summary. But here's some info I've managed to gather on Bryan in the recent months. During a sit-down talk with Kofi Kingston, The New Day man told me Bryan is legitimately one of the greatest of all-time.
"No one will fully understand what he did for me during our angle. He went to bat for me on several occasions and that's not unusual for him to do by any stretch, but it was still great that he did it for me at such a pivotal time."
"He's going to go down as one of the greatest of all-time, absolutely no question. But he's a fantastic human being, too."
That's a recurring theme with Bryan. I was also told that he had pushed hard for WWE to use Drew Gulak and pitch a few storylines before the company ultimately gave in and had them face off at Elimination Chamber.
He's also known to have been an advocate for Chad Gable and Ali backstage and he is a regular in WWE production meetings. Reportedly, it was also his idea to work with Sami Zayn at WrestleMania, and, you guessed it, put Zayn over.
Bryan has already stated that he does not see himself wrestling for too much longer and he has probably signed his last in-ring deal with WWE, but the five-time world champion has shown all the signs that he intends to make stars before he is done.
Bryan can do that. He's shown he has an innate ability to redefine his character and breathe new life into what he's doing time and time again. His passion for doing so directly conflicts with his desire to retire relatively young, in wrestling terms.
While he may take a backstage role after his career that doesn't have the same demanding schedule, there's next to zero chance he walks away from wrestling completely, maybe ever.