This weekend, we should ALL be proud indy fans

[supersonic]

CM Punk's success was one thing. But he never got to be on a stage like this.



Any true fan of ROH wrestling, indy wrestling, or just wrestling in general should be stoked to see Bryan Danielson get his crowning achievement in New Orleans. Nobody in their right minds could have seen him getting this far during his days on the independent scene.

The man has EARNED it with being one of the finest in-ring technicians EVER, finding ways to modify his style to connect with any audience he performed in front of, and growing as a personality. Most of all, if you care about a wrestler's real-life personality, ALL signs point to Danielson as being one of the kindest, confident, decent men in the industry. Go ahead and try to find someone ever questioning his character, I'll be waiting.

Whether he was kicking off ROH to a phenomenal start in its first ever main event, having a masterpiece with Paul London, creating overnight stars in Tyler Black (who is also going to a part of WrestleMania XXX for those of you living under a rock) and Austin Aries, arguably being the greatest ROH Champion ever, to his classic series of matches with Takeshi Morishima and Nigel McGuinness, every fan of ROH should be happy to see Danielson's hard work and talent reach the very top of the business.

This weekend will be one of those moments in my over 16 years of watching wrestling that I am proud to be a fan, and am GLAD a way was found for me to get to New Orleans this year despite some financial difficulty.

This is why ALL of us watch professional wrestling.

[Robareid]

Here here. He has clearly worked so damn hard, and deserves this coming moment.

Still think Batista has about a 1 in 10 chance of winning though...

[The Dragon Saga]

Posted something like this on Reddit today, got 26 upvotes so even non-ROH fans get it.

I don't think Bryan's influence on ROH can ever be understated. The dude has built the company we have the pleasure of talking about everyday. Many here often forget that only a few short years ago, ROH was still an indy, Cary Silkin was struggling to get by, wasn't even able to afford the Hammerstein Ballroom anymore, ROH had lost its most valuable asset (HDNet TV deal) and people were either leaving or rumors were floating around that others were leaving, some actually wound up doing it (Aries, Claudio, Hero until his return).

But now it's solidly the third top promotion in the United States, has been acknowledged by WWE (or at least its website) on how its influenced their company, and how it will continue to, and a big part of that is Bryan. I remember being live at Unified to see this dude unify the World and Pure titles and just having so much fucking fun! It's why I love ROH, and even when shit is going bad, I just remember Bryan hoisting the titles into the air or talking to him and Nigel at the backdoor of the venue after and feeling like I was talking to celebrities.

At this time eight years ago Bryan was in the midst of his ROH World Championship reign, and this Sunday, he will main event WrestleMania in-front of 80,000 people with the WWE Championship on the line, and we can say, "that's our guy", because when most of us were telling everyone he was the best, people told us we were wrong and that he was an, "indy vanilla midget". Well it looks like there is nothing wrong with being an indy vanilla midget anymore, especially when you're an extremely talented indy, vanilla midget. I hope Bryan gets what he deserves on Sunday and that whenever they release his tell all DVD that they eventually will, that ROH are more than happy to provide footage and stories on how their once top guy is days away from solidifying his place in wrestling history.

[ROHFanAnthony]

Like I said in the wwe thread, there is no better way to end this wrestlemania than Bryan winning the title. I wonder if his match vs HHH will be early in the card or right before the main event?

[Tenryu's Perm]

When I started watching ROH back in '05 I was burned out on professional wrestling and looking for something different. One of the very first people I took a liking to was this pale, angry lookin' fella with an unkempt beard and a chip on his shoulder that would wrestle each match like his very life depended on winning. Danielson is one of the main reasons I stuck with ROH, and wrestling in general, and became a huge fan again. Almost ten years later, he's the sole reason I went back to watching WWE after having sworn them off for good.

Daniel Bryan Danielson, to me, exemplifies what professional wrestling is about. He lives it, he breathes it, but most importantly, he gets it. He knows how to connect with the fans and draw them into any story, any match. I am proud to be a fan, and I will be doing the "Yes! Chant" in my living room on April 6th, and marking out like a kid if/when he captures the gold and solidifies himself as a legend in this industry.

[GardenStateSaint]

Why isn't Bootista in that picture?

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

Even if he doesn't win the title this weekend, it's still a huge moment for him. I think it's a safe bet that a huge percentage of people watching Wrestlemania are watching because of Daniel Bryan. The fact that he has the opportunity to have not only one, but two Wrestlemania moments this year and has been in the biggest storyl ine of the year leading into this weekend is really awesome, and well deserved.

Bryan Danielson (and Nigel McGuinness) are the reason I got into ROH, and independent wrestling as a whole. It's always nice to see "one of the good guys" make it big.

[JSP]

There are still people who refuse to call him Daniel Bryan? Okay.

[supersonic]

There are still people who refuse to call him Daniel Bryan? Okay.

Thank you for this wonderful contribution. Nobody else has gotten me so excited and proud to be a wrestling fan this weekend like you have with your on-topic input.

[jordidebaas]

Even if he doesn't win the title this weekend, it's still a huge moment for him. I think it's a safe bet that a huge percentage of people watching Wrestlemania are watching because of Daniel Bryan.

By that you mean that they wouldn't be watching if Bryan wasn't in the main event? Because that's probably about 1% of the viewers.

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

Even if he doesn't win the title this weekend, it's still a huge moment for him. I think it's a safe bet that a huge percentage of people watching Wrestlemania are watching because of Daniel Bryan.

By that you mean that they wouldn't be watching if Bryan wasn't in the main event? Because that's probably about 1% of the viewers.

That really didn't make sense, did it? Of course people would have still watched Wrestlemania even if he wasn't on the card. What I meant was I think most people watching are most interested in seeing Daniel Bryan. I make sure I watch 'mania every year. But some years I watch Wrestlemania for no other reason than it's Wrestlemania. This year I'm watching specifically to see Bryan. Sure, you have some other big matches but Daniel Bryan far and away seems like the biggest deal going into the show.
Hopefully that made sense.

[fm20000]

what?

[The Dragon Saga]

Difference between Punk and Bryan is, Punk had the tools to at least get into WWE. I was on forums in 2006, bring up the idea of WWE signing Bryan back then the retorts consisted of, "LOL WWE SIGN INDY VANILLA MIDGET", "that guyz overrated he only gud in tha ringz of honor" or "he can do it in front of 200 nerd but he cant do it in the DUBYA DUBYA EEEEEEE!"

Two completely kettle of fish.

[JTCole]

In fairness Bryan didn't become successful in WWE because of his wrestling ability although that did help. He became a success because he adapted to his new environment and let his personality and untapped charisma show. Sure his ROH run helped him get noticed by WWE but ultimately he was able to get over all by himself. Well, maybe Kane helped a bit.

[jordidebaas]

Even if he doesn't win the title this weekend, it's still a huge moment for him. I think it's a safe bet that a huge percentage of people watching Wrestlemania are watching because of Daniel Bryan.

By that you mean that they wouldn't be watching if Bryan wasn't in the main event? Because that's probably about 1% of the viewers.

That really didn't make sense, did it? Of course people would have still watched Wrestlemania even if he wasn't on the card. What I meant was I think most people watching are most interested in seeing Daniel Bryan. I make sure I watch 'mania every year. But some years I watch Wrestlemania for no other reason than it's Wrestlemania. This year I'm watching specifically to see Bryan. Sure, you have some other big matches but Daniel Bryan far and away seems like the biggest deal going into the show.
Hopefully that made sense.

It did

[cviens]

I really hope Wrestlemania concludes with Bryan holding that title up high. He deserves the moment.

[supersonic]

IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN~!

[Hellfont93]

[Memphis Mark]

Well I still call him Bryan Danielson or the American Dragon , because that his name.. I am glad that Danielson is making big money , he has more than paid his dues. However I am a ROH and NJPW fan. I only watch those two promotions, because I am a wrestling fan . I could not begin to understand why any one who watch the WWE . I don' t even know who is wrestling .
Still good for Danielson , he a rich man. He earned his money the hard way.

[ROHFanAnthony]

Well he did it! He becomes the first ROH original to be in the last match of wrestlemania and to top it off he wins the title! WWE has a clue afterall!