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Bryan Danielson (born May 22, 1981) is an Americanmarker professional wrestler who is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment. He is also known by his alias, and later nickname, the American Dragon.

In professional wrestling, Danielson is a 4-time world champion, having won the ROH World Championship in Ring of Honor, (ROH) the FIP World Heavyweight Championship in Full Impact Pro (FIP), and the PWG World Championship twice in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). In addition, Danielson has also won the Global Honored Crown Junior Heavyweight Championship in Pro Wrestling Noah, and is officially recognized as the last ROH Pure Champion, as he unified the Pure title with the ROH World title in 2006.

Until 2009, Danielson primarily competed on the independent circuit. Ring of Honor was generally regarded as his home promotion, but he also worked in Full Impact Pro (ROH's sister promotion), Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He has also worked internationally, most notably in Pro Wrestling Noah through ROH's involvement in the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance, a global organization of cooperative promotions that allow their competitors to travel abroad to other companies. He also competed in a handful of matches in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) before signing an actual contract with the company in 2009.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1999-2004)

Danielson's first exposure in the business was as a backyard wrestler competing for Backyard Championship Wrestling (BCW) under his real name with the nickname "The Dagger", There he won the promotion's Heavyweight Championship. After Danielson graduated from high school in 1999, he decided to pursue wrestling professionally, he initially attempting to train at Dean Malenko's wrestling school, but due to its subsequent closure, instead trained under Shawn Michaels at the Texas Wrestling Academy. Danielson debuted in Michaels' promotion, Texas Wrestling Alliance (TWA), where he won his first professional championship, the TWA Tag Team Championship with Brian "Spanky" Kendrick as his partner.

As Danielson continued to tour the country, he was signed to a developmental deal by World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to work in their developmental system where recently signed performers train and refine their skills before debuting on WWF's television programming, and was assigned to Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW). There, Danielson gained exposure, and was trained by WWF competitor, William Regal. It was during this time that Danielson adopted his well-known moniker "American Dragon". WWF severed its ties with MCW in 2001, releasing Danielson from his contract. Danielson returned to the company on later dates after it was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment to compete on its secondary programming, Velocity and Heat, initially as enhancement talent before being allowed to compete in longer matches; he once wrestled future WWE Champion John Cena in a losing effort.

Danielson also toured Japanmarker with the promotion, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) with fellow trainee from the Texas Wrestling Academy, Lance Cade, competing in several tag team matches. He returned to the country after his release from the WWF, competing in Japan's premier promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he used his American Dragon persona, and donned a red, white, and blue mask reminiscent of a dragon. As a part of the junior heavyweight division, Danielson had success in both singles and tag team competition in the company, the latter of which culminated on March 12, 2004 when Danielson won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Curry Man from division veterans, Jado and Gedo, on the Hyper Battle tour.

Ring of Honor

Early appearances (2002-2005)

In 2002, Danielson joined the independent promotion, Ring of Honor, where he is acknowledged as a "Founding Father" of the company by fans, as he was one of the wrestlers who made the company prominent during its inception, and competed in the main event of the company's debut show, The Era of Honor Begins, in a three-way match against Low Ki and Christopher Daniels. He continued to have critically-acclaimed matches in the company that would last for extended periods of time with numerous wrestlers, including a match with Austin Aries that lasted for eighty minutes. One of the more notable rivalries he had in the early years in the company was with Homicide; the two embarked in numerous matches with a variety of stipulations, culminating in a steel cage match at The Final Showdown, which was won by Danielson.

At that time, Danielson had long been regarded as the best wrestler in ROH to have never held a major title belt; despite winning the company's inaugural Survival of the Fittest tournament in 2004, championship gold constantly eluded him. It came to the point where, in 2005, Danielson announced in the company's newsletter, the ROH Newswire, that he had quit ROH after being frustrated by his inability to defeat Austin Aries for the ROH World Championship. It was later revealed Danielson had become frustrated in general with professional wrestling and planned to take some time off to evaluate his career options. Danielson had several dates booked in Europe and Japan, however, leading fans to believe that the periodical was likely a storyline claim for Danielson's absence during this period. In May 2005, rumors started that Total Nonstop Action Wrestling was interested in signing Danielson, and he also had some more tryout matches with WWE at that time, but none of these events led to anything, as he remained in ROH.

World Champion (2006)

Danielson defeated James Gibson for the ROH World Championship at Glory by Honor IV. The rest of the year saw Danielson have many successful title defenses, competing against all comers, even those from other companies, such as Pro Wrestling Noah star Naomichi Marufuji, at Final Battle 2005.

Danielson in the ring in 2006
At the beginning of 2006, Chris Hero, a representative from Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), invaded ROH and targeted Danielson; this led to the two exchanging words over the Internet before having a match together with nearly the entire roster of both companies embarking on an interpromotional feud. Danielson became personally invested in this feud, and invaded CZW himself, which led to him having physical altercations with a number of CZW wrestlers. Hero intensified the rivalry, leading to the two wrestling at ROH's Hell Freezes Over event, where Danielson successfully defended the ROH World Championship. He soon filled the vacant slot on ROH's five-man team which participated in one of CZW's more popular attractions, a steel cage match called the Cage of Death, a ten-man tag team match that would have a man from each team start out in the cage, with one more random competitor entering into the match after an allotted amount of time. During the match he turned on his team by assaulting his rival, Samoa Joe, before leaving the match and effectively abandoning his involvement in the animosity between the two promotions. As the interpromotional hostility with CZW heightened, Danielson also defended against challengers from the rival company, who had signed an open contract for any CZW wrestler willing to challenge for the ROH World Title. Former champion Samoa Joe also challenged Danielson during his constant defenses, only to have their match end in a sixty-minute draw.

Ring of Honor, while having the ROH World Championship, faced the issue of having another title with seemingly-equal value, the ROH Pure Championship. Danielson and the ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness had a match to unify the titles; Danielson won the match, becoming the ROH Unified Champion in the process. Danielson received an injury in the following weeks, separating his shoulder, and tearing two tendons in that shoulder and another in his chest, leading to his next few matches being cancelled. Danielson returned at Glory by Honor V: Night 2, and was challenged by Kenta, a guest competitor from Pro Wrestling Noah, due to the two company's talent exchange agreement; Danielson again retained his championship. At Final Battle 2006, Danielson's fifteen-month title reign finally ended after losing to Homicide, and he subsequently took time off from wrestling in order to heal his shoulder.

2007-2009

On May 11, Danielson made his return to the company at Reborn Again where he defeated Shane Hagadorn and Adam Pearce in separate matches. On May 12 Ring of Honor filmed its first ever pay per view, Respect is Earned, which had Danielson team with ROH World Champion, Takeshi Morishima, to take on Nigel McGuinness and Kenta; Danielson's team scored the win, as Danielson made Kenta tap out to his signature submission hold, the Cattle Mutilation. Danielson made his return to contention for the ROH World title by defeating Nigel McGuinness at Domination, which would appear on the company's next pay per view, Driven. This allowed him to, now as a heroic character, challenge Morishima for the title at Manhattan Mayhem in a losing effort; he also suffered a legitimate detached retina. Following a subsequent surgery, Danielson returned with intent to challenge Morishima once more, leading to a match at Man Up that had the referee stop the match due to Danielson being unable to respond to him. Danielson exacted revenge, albeit by Morishima getting disqualified, at Rising Above against his rival by assaulting him before Morishima returned to Japan. Morishima returned to the company at Final Battle 2008, in a match billed as a "Fight Without Honor", which allowed both men to use weapons, which Danielson won.

Over the coming months, Danielson worked with Austin Aries again, but as friendly rivals, having multiple matches with fluctuating outcomes including a match on pay per view at Take No Prisoners, which was won by Danielson. The two would soon become partners in order for Aries to gain a measure of revenge on the group, The Age of the Fall, for wrongs committed against Aries, which had the two wrestle all members of the group in a series of different stipulation matches, as well as teaming together frequently to challenge members Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.

As part of ROH's agreement with Pro Wrestling Noah, the company held a show in Japan on September 14 entitled the Tokyo Summit, which had Danielson wrestle GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, which saw him win the title. Following his victory, he was interviewed, and announced that Noah would allow him defend the title in Ring of Honor, with his first defense being at Glory By Honor VII, defeating Katsuhiko Nakajima, a competitor from the Kensuke Office, another member promotion of the GPWA. This would ultimately be his only successful defense, however, as he would return to Japan on October 13 to lose the title to Kenta. Following his loss, Danielson challenged McGuinness for the title at the next ROH pay per view, Rising Above in a losing effort.

Ring of Honor made its national television debut with the program, Ring of Honor Wrestling, and Danielson made his television debut in the main event of its third episode by defeating Austin Aries. The following episode to feature Danielson had him wrestle Tyler Black, which ended in a draw. This was the start of a rivalry between the two that was highlighted by Danielson's respect for Tyler, even claiming Black would be the top star in the future, with Danielson's antithesis being that would not happen for a while, leading to the two have many more matches that kept the notion of neither man truly being better. At this point, as well, Danielson became more involved in trying to win the ROH World Tag Team title, so, out of respect to his rival, had chosen Black to be his partner. The two attempted to win the title multiple times, leading to a conflict, dismantling the partnership.

On August 23, it was announced Danielson signed a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment; prior to joining the company, he embarked on a farewell tour with ROH known as The Final Countdown Tour, which saw him challenge Aries for the title again in a losing effort. At Glory By Honor VIII, he won his last match in the company against Nigel McGuinness, who was also having his final match with the company.

Other promotions

Aside from competing primarily in Ring of Honor, Danielson has also competed in a multitude of other independent promotions. One of them was ROH's sister promotion, Full Impact Pro (FIP). His debut with the promotion was at New Dawn Rising in 2005 in a losing effort against CM Punk, which led to a brief feud between the two. Danielson's biggest success came in 2006 by winning the FIP World Heavyweight Championship, holding the belt for eleven months before losing it to Roderick Strong.

Following his return from his injury in 2007, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) published a video of Danielson stating his intent to challenge for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, as the establishment that sanctioned the title at the time, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, was relinquishing the title back to the NWA. A tournament was held to determine the new champion with Danielson making his way to finals, scheduled to compete face Brent Albright on September 1, but due to the eye injury he sustained at Manhattan Mayhem, the NWA announced he withdrew from the tournament with and Adam Pearce replacing him; Danielson was appointed the referee of the match.

Danielson has also wrestled in the Californiamarker-based promotion, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), debuting with the company in 2004, in a match where he teamed with Christopher Daniels against Ricky Reyes and Samoa Joe. He continued to appear in PWG over the next couple of years, winning the PWG World Championship in 2007, and holding it for six months before taking an eleven-month hiatus from the company. He made his return to PWG at the 2008 Battle of Los Angeles tournament. In May 2009, he made another appearance teaming with Paul London, referring to himself as American Dolphin in a parodied manner. On September 4, 2009, at Guerre Sans Frontières, during his last night in PWG, Danielson defeated Chris Hero to win the PWG World Championship for the second time and immediately vacated it afterward.

In 2009, Danielson's contract with Ring of Honor expired; this opened up Danielson to travel to other companies more freely while competing in his home promotion. He made his debut with Philadelphiamarker-based promotion, Chikara to compete in their King of Trios tournament, which saw him team with Claudio Castagnoli and Dave Taylor in a contingency called Team Uppercut. In the same year, it was announced Danielson would compete in Dragon Gate USA in their second show.

After his contract expired Danielson reportedly signed with WWE with ROH colleague Nigel McGuinness. However, in October it was reported that McGuinness' deal with WWE had fallen through and he decided to join Total Nonstop Action Wrestling instead. Reportedly McGuinness' jump has no relevance regarding Danielson's future with the WWE.

Persona

Bryan Danielson has spent the majority of his career without an overt character in favor of becoming popular with the fans through his monikers, signature mannerisms, and wrestling ability. His attire has varied, as well, with the majority of his tenure wearing a pair of short trunks, but also ventured into wearing a mask for a time in Japan as an extension of his "American Dragon" persona.

A notable part of Danielson's persona would be the mannerisms and the reaction he inspires from the crowd he performs during the course of his matches that include:

  • Danielson making his way to the ring with his entrance song as The Final Countdown; once in the ring, he stands on the top turnbuckle as he would sing the refrain along the with fans in attendance.
  • After winning the ROH World title, Danielson displayed traits of a heel-like persona, starting to behave more aggressively and threatening to the fans, as well as taking more liberties with the rules. Despite his rulebreaking character, he still remained a certain level of popularity with the fans, as well as his upholding of the company's Code of Honor, ROH's storyline rules of wrestler conduct, allowing him to perform as a more neutral character.
  • Applying a submission hold while the opponent gets a part of their body in the ring ropes, leading to the referee counting to five (not releasing the hold by the count of five would result in a disqualification); as the referee would be about to disqualify Danielson, the latter would release the hold, instructing the referee: "I have till five!"
  • During his initial reign as ROH World Champion, tell the ring announcer to add an extra note about him pertaining to the current circumstances around his match; this was generally insulting the crowd or his opponent.
  • At the beginning of Danielson's ROH matches, the crowd chants, "You're gonna get your fucking head kicked in!" at Danielson's opponent.


Personal life

Bryan has recently relocated to Las Vegas, Nevadamarker where he has begun training in mixed martial arts at Randy Couture's Xtreme Couture gym. According to reports, Danielson is wanting to travel to Thailandmarker to train in Muay Thai for three months.

During his time as ROH World Champion, ROH appointed Danielson the head trainer of ROH's Wrestling School replacing Austin Aries. He relinquished the position to Delirious in 2007.

Danielson has cited a number of wrestlers as influences to his style: Toshiaki Kawada, Mitsuharu Misawa, and William Regal. He has also made mention of modeling his wrestling off of the work of Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit in his early career, then using Jujitsu as a platform to develop his own style.

In wrestling

  • Finishing moves






  • Signature moves




  • Nicknames
    • "The American Dragon"
    • "The American Dolphin"
    • "The Best Wrestler in the World"
    • "The Dagger"
    • "Master of the Small Package"




Championships and accomplishments























  • Pro Wrestling Report
    • Independent Wrestler of the Year (2006)






  • World Series Wrestling
    • WSW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)




References

  1. Saks, Stu. Pro Wrestling Illustrated 2007 Almanac and Book of Facts. Blue Bell Publishing, 2007.
  2. Meltzer, Bill. "The ROH-CZW Philly Turf War." Pro Wrestling Illustrated May 2006: 40-43.
  3. Murphy, Dan. "Report Cards of the Stars". Pro Wrestling Illustrated July 2008. 152.
  4. Castle, Al. "The Best in the World: Is this more than hype?" Pro Wrestling Illustrated February 2009. 50.
  5. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1239315389.php?style=dark
  6. ROH Wrestling


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