Bryan Danielson - Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 65.7.176.26 (talk) at 21:12, 29 January 2007 (→In wrestling). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 21:12, 29 January 2007 by 65.7.176.26 (talk) (→In wrestling)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources.
Find sources: "Bryan Danielson" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Bryan Danielson
File:BryanDanielson.jpg
Born	May 22, 1981 Aberdeen, Washington
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	American Dragon Bryan Danielson
Billed height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Billed weight	185 lb (83 kg)
Billed from	Aberdeen, Washington
Trained by	Texas Wrestling Academy Rudy Boy Gonzalez Shawn Michaels William Regal Tracy Smothers Bobby Eaton Masato Tanaka
Debut	1999

Bryan Danielson (born May 22, 1981 in Aberdeen, Washington) is an American independent professional wrestler, also known as American Dragon. He is the current head trainer of the ROH Wrestling Academy.

Career

Quest for the Title

Danielson is acknowledged as one of the "Founding Fathers" of Ring of Honor (ROH), along with Low Ki and Christopher Daniels, being one of the wrestlers who made the company prominent during its inception in 2002. On February 22, he main-evented ROH's debut show The Era of Honor Begins in a three-way match against Low Ki, and Daniels, which quickly put the company on the map.

Danielson was long regarded as the best wrestler in ROH to have never held a title belt. Despite winning the company's inaugural Survival of the Fittest tournament in 2004, championship gold constantly eluded Danielson's grasp.

In January 2005, Danielson would embark on a bitter feud with Homicide, culminating in a best-of-five series of stipulation matches. Homicide dominated early as Danielson lost the first two matches, a Submission match and a Taped Fist match. However, Danielson emerged victorious in the remaining three matches, winning a Falls Count Anywhere match, a Lumberjack match, and a cage match at The Final Showdown on May 13.

In April, Danielson participated in ECCW's 5th Annual Pacific Cup Tournament, a tournament he also participated in 2003. Danielson once again advanced to the finals, losing a three-way dance to Puma and Aaron Idol. After the match, Danielson smashed the Pacific Cup trophy and said that New Japan Pro Wrestling was better than ECCW. He and Puma then attacked the Pacific Cup winner Aaron Idol. This started a brief feud between ECCW and NJPW, which was dropped.

In mid-2005, an ROH Newswire announced that Bryan Danielson had quit ROH after being frustrated by inability to defeat Austin Aries for the ROH World Championship. Danielson had in fact become frustrated in general with professional wrestling and planned to take time off to evaluate his career options. However, his official website revealed that Danielson had several dates booked in Europe, indicating that he was not done in the world of pro wrestling, and that the ROH Newswire was likely an excuse for Danielson's absence during his tour of Europe.

In May rumors started that Total Nonstop Action Wrestling was interested in signing Danielson, Samoa Joe, and CM Punk to contracts. A memo was allegedly put out to World Wrestling Entertainment Head of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis, telling him to sign the three before TNA did. Since then, Samoa Joe signed with TNA and CM Punk signed with WWE. However, Danielson has not committed to either promotion, and this may have something to do with the length of his ROH world title reign.

ROH World Champion

Daneislon would eventually make his return to ROH on September 17 at Glory by Honor IV, defeating James Gibson for the ROH World Championship. Although he won the championship, he was not seen a month later until he retained the championship against Austin Aries on October 14. Danielson also made a successful defense against Christopher Daniels during ROH's A Night of Tribute show, where he knocked him out with a Roaring Elbow after a 30 minute bout. On December 17 at Final Battle 2005, he defeated Pro Wrestling NOAH star Naomichi Marufuji with a roll-up.

In early 2006, Danielson was embroiled in a feud with Chris Hero. They had been taking shots at each other over the internet, with their intense rivalry ending in a match in Philadelphia on January 14. After invading Combat Zone Wrestling and brawling with Hero, the two wrestled at Ring of Honor's Hell Freezes Over. After a 30-minute match, Danielson retained the ROH World Championship. Following the match, Prince Nana offered to buy the ROH World Championship from him. When he refused, he was attacked by The Embassy (Alex Shelley and Jimmy Rave).

The Embassy would go on to win the 2006 trios tournament at Tag Wars 2006. As a result they were granted any match they wanted. Rave challenged Danielson for the title at the Fourth Anniversary Show, while Shelley (in an effort to not be out done) challenged him for it on the show prior to the Anniversary Show. The night he was schedualed to face Shelley, the norhteast suffered a blizzard. Prince Nana was unable to secure the flight for Shelley (who in reality had been pulled, along with all the other TNA contracted wrestlers, from the show so they would not miss the TNA pay-per-view the following night), so he flew in former ROH Champion and Embassy member Xavier to face Danielson. During the match he was attacked by Jimmy Rave, in an effort to injure him before their match. CM Punk (who had returned for one night only in a suprise appearance) chased Rave away, but was attacked by Adam Pearce. Later that night, Danielson and Punk defeated Rave and Pearce in a tag team match. Danielson would then defeat Rave at the Fourth Anniversary Show and Shelley at Arena Warfare.

On March 25, at Best in the World, Danielson and Samoa Joe teamed up in what some fans perceive as a dream match as they took on Pro Wrestling NOAH's GHC Jr. Heavyweight champion KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji in New York City. KENTA pinned the ROH World Champion, but Joe discretted the victory saying he didn't beat him in a singles match. After pinning Danielson in a tag match at Tag Wars 2006, Roderick Strong was granted his third shot at Danielson's ROH World Championship. At Supercard of Honor on March 31, Danielson defeated Strong in a fifty-six minute match. The following night, he defended the World Title against Lance Storm, defeating him by submission (via the Cattle Mutilation). Storm had trained for ten months and come out of retirment just for this match.

During April, Danielson became the head trainer at the ROH Wrestling School, replacing Austin Aries. In Danielson's next match on April 22, he defeated Colt Cabana in Philadelphia, at The 100th Show, with a roll-up in only six minutes (an unprecedented length for an ROH World Title defense). He came out later in the show and, after getting in a battle of witts with the CZW fans (who were there for the ROH vs. CZW six man war), defeated Delirious when the referee stopped the contest after a series of MMA-style elbows. He would go on to defeate Delirious again in a rematch on May 13. The feud came about after the pair lost a tag team match against The Embassy on March 30 at Dragon Gate Challenge in Detroit.

Daneislon lost to ROH Pure champion Nigel McGuinness in a Pure rules match in Cleveland. Both titles were at stake, but because Danielson lost by countout, he retained his ROH World Title since only the Pure Title can change hands by countout. On May 12 in Long Island, Danielson teamed with Christopher Daniels against then NWA World Heavyweight Champion and special guest Christian Cage and Colt Cabana, with Cage pinning Daniels. On June 3, at Destiny in East Windsor, Danielson faced his old rival Homicide for the ROH World Title, again winning when the referee stopped the contest after a series of MMA-style elbows.

Recently rivals, including Colt Cabana, have been making fun of Bryan Danielson because of his pale, untanned complexion in an attempt to break his nerve. Danielson again successfully retained against Cabana on June 10 at Full Impact Pro Impact of Honor in Orlando.

On June 17 in Manhattan, Danielson competed in a non-title one fall three way, against KENTA and Samoa Joe, where KENTA pinned Danielson with the Go 2 Sleep, marking the second time KENTA has pinned Danielson. Afterwards, KENTA and Samoa Joe made clear their intentions to go after the ROH World title, along with Homicide, who made comments concerning the ROH World title earlier that night.

On July 15, at Death before Dishonor IV in Philadelphia, Danielson defeated Sonjay Dutt, who had signed an open contract for any CZW wrestler willing to challenge for the ROH World Title. Later on in the night, he participated in the ROH vs. CZW Cage of Death match, having occupied the vacant fifth slot on ROH's team. He was the third member of ROH's team to enter the cage, and his presence gave them a huge advantage over CZW's team. However, just as CZW's third member was about to enter, Danielson revealed his true intention for entering the match as he attacked Samoa Joe and left the arena. Joe was rendered unable to continue in the match, and ROH's team would not fully recover until much later, when Homicide made a surprise appearance.

On July 28, at "War of the Wire 2" in Dayton, Ohio, Danielson competed in a non-title four corner survival match, against Homicide, Austin Aries and Delirious, and was defeated by Aries with the 450 Splash, guaranteeing Aries a future shot at Danielson's world title. It also ensures that Danielson will not be able to challenge for the ROH World Tag Team Titles, whilst Austin Aries and Roderick Strong hold the titles.

On August 12 during Ring of Honor's first UK tour, Danielson defeated Nigel McGuinness to unify the ROH World and ROH Pure Wrestling championships. He then successfully defended the title twice the following night in Broxbourne, first against NOAH wrestler SUWA and second against Roderick Strong. On August 25 and August 26, he competed in two 2/3 falls matches (one against Nigel McGuinness and the other against Colt Cabana) that ended in a one hour draw. During his match with Cabana, Danielson fell outside the ring and landed on his right shoulder, separating it. He tore two tendons in the shoulder and tore another tendon in his chest. As a result, his ROH World Championship match with Austin Aries on September 15 was postponed, and his FIP Championship match against Davey Richards on September 8 was cancelled. Danielson returned to wrestling at Glory by Honor: Night 2 and retained the ROH World Championship in a mtach against KENTA. He defeated Austin Aries on October 7 in their reschedualed match to retain the title.

Danielson lost the Full Impact Pro Heavyweight Championship on November 10, 2006, in Inverness, Florida, to Roderick Strong.

Danielson debuted in Pro Wrestling NOAH on November 17, 2006, teaming up with Bison Smith and Eddie Edwards to defeat KENTA, Ricky Marvin and Akitoshi Saito when he made Marvin submit to the Cattle Mutilation. Danielson's last match of the tour took place on December 2 at the Yokohoma Bunka Gymnasium in a losing effort against KENTA.

On December 8, Danielson defeated Samoa Joe in a Steel Cage match in Chicago, Illinois when Samoa Joe was standing on the top rope, with the choke on Danielson who was hunched over the cage trying to escape. Bryan Danielson just fell off the top of the cage out of the choke and was declared the winner.

On December 23 at Final Battle 2006, Danielson faced Homicide in their long awaited match. After Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn interfered in the match, Danielson was disqualified. However, the referee refused to let the match end on a DQ and restarted the bout. Later, Danielson caught Homicide in a submission hold and refused to let go after Homicide had reached the ropes. He did this in an effort to get himself disqualified again, but the referee once again refused. Danielson went on to ultimately lose the match after a lariat from Homicide. Following the match, Danielson presented Homicide with the ROH World Championship. He would then take time off from wrestling to heal his shoulder.

In wrestling

Finishing and signature moves

Cattle Mutilation / Arms Across America (Bridging grounded double chickenwing)
Crossface chickenwing, sometimes with body scissors
Dragon suplex
Repeated elbow strikes to the side of the opponent's head, while one of the opponent's arms is trapped between Danielson's legs and the other is held back by his other arm
Small package
Regal-Plex (Bridging leg hook belly to back suplex)
Roaring Elbow (Discus elbow smash)
Airplane spin
Diving headbutt
German suplex
Release underhook suplex
Rolling fireman's carry slam
Running big boot
Surfboard
Tiger suplex
Top rope belly to back suplex

Nicknames

"American Dragon"

Quotes

"I am Mr. Small Package!"
"The best champion in wrestling today!"
"I have 'til five, referee!"
"Best wrestler in the world!"
"Tap!"
"Pain is temporary. Pride is forever."
"It's the Final Countdown!" (Said with audience in unison in synch to theme music The Final Countdown)