Bryan Danielson
| Bryan Danielson | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 22, 1981 Aberdeen, Washington |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | "The Dagger" American Dragon Bryan Danielson |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) |
| Billed weight | 185 lb (83 kg) |
| Trained by | Shawn Michaels William Regal Tracy Smothers Bobby Eaton Masato Tanaka Rudy Boy Gonzalez |
| Debut | 1999 |
Bryan Danielson is an American independent professional wrestler, also known as American Dragon. He is the current reigning Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Champion. Danielson is current head trainer of the ROH Wrestling Academy.
Career
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 famous during its inception in 2002. On February 22, 2002, he main-evented ROH's debut show, "The Era of Honor Begins" in a 3-way match between himself, Low Ki, and Daniels, which quickly put the company on the map.
Danielson was for long regarded as the best wrestler in ROH to never have held a title belt. Despite winning the company's inaugural "Survival of the Fittest" tournament in 2004, defeating Austin Aries in the finals, championship gold constantly eluded Danielson's grasp.
2005
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 emerge victorious in the remaining three matches, winning a Falls Count Anywhere match, a Lumberjack match, and finally defeating him and winning the series in a cage match at The Final Showdown on May 13, 2005.
In mid-2005, an ROH Newswire announced that American Dragon 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 2005 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 WWE 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.
Danielson would eventually make a triumphant return to Ring of Honor, where on September 17, 2005, he defeated James Gibson for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship. Danielson still holds the title today and has had many successful title defenses against several wrestlers such as Austin Aries, Steve Corino, Roderick Strong, Chris Sabin, Rocky Romero,Alex Shelley, Jimmy Rave, Lance Storm and AJ Styles; including November 19, 2005 at A Night of Tribute, where he knocked out Christopher Daniels with a Roaring Elbow after a 30 minute bout and Final Battle 2005 on December 17th, where he rolled up Pro Wrestling NOAH star, Naomichi Marufuji for the win.
2006
In early 2006, Danielson was embroiled in a feud with Chris Hero of Combat Zone Wrestling. They have been taking shots at each other over the internet, with their intense rivlary ending in two matches in Phiadelphia on January 14th, 2006. One match was CZW in a "fight" and the other was later on that day for the ROH World title, with Danielson coming out victorious. In February and March, Danielson made two title defenses against two members of the Embassy, one to Jimmy Rave and one to Alex Shelley, due to the trio's tournament that the Embassy won in late January, granting them a choice of any match they want with any opponent. Danielson defeated both to remain the ROH World champ.
On March 25th, Danielson and Samoa Joe teamed up in nothing short of a dream match as they took on NOAH's GHC Jr. Heavyweight champ KENTA and Naomichi Marafuji in New York, NY, with KENTA pinning Danielson. KENTA has promised he will return soon, where an inevitable one on one match between the GHC Jr. Heavyweight champ and the ROH World champ will occur.
On March 31, Danielson narrowly defeated Roderick Strong, after the match almost went to a time draw, in the third match up for the ROH World title. The following night on April 1st, Danielson defended the ROH World title against former WWE, WCW, and ECW Superstar Lance Storm, defeating him by submission (via the Cattle Mutilation). Lance Storm had come out of retirement to participate in this match in Chicago, Illinois.
In Danielson's next match on April 22nd he beat Colt Cabana in Philadelphia, at ROH's 100th Show, with a roll-up after around 5 minutes, an unprecedented length for an ROH World title defense. Later that night he successfully defended against Delirious, when the referee stopped the contest after a series of elbows.
His next title defenses are scheduled to be against Jimmy Yang, and a potential unification match with Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness at Weekend of Champions.
On April 12, it was announced that Danielson, ROH world champion, and a partner of his choosing would face Christian Cage, NWA world champion, and a partner of his choosing on May 12 in Long Island.
Finishing and signature moves
- As "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson
- Cattle Mutilation / Arms Across America (Bridging grounded double chickenwing)
- Crossface chickenwing, sometimes with body scissors
- Mexican surfboard (Romero Special)
- Bow and Arrow
- Roaring Elbow (Discus elbow smash)
- Diving headbutt
- Regal Suplex (Bridging leg hook belly to back suplex)
- Dragon suplex
- German suplex
- Tiger suplex
- Top rope belly to back suplex
- Release underhook suplex
- Northern Lights suplex
- Pendulum backbreaker
- Airplane spin
- As "Dagger" Bryan Danielson
- Dagger Bomb
- Dagger Driver
- Dagger Suplex
Championships and accomplishments
- 1-time APW Internet Champion
- APW King Of The Indys Tournament Winner (1999)
- 1-time ASW Heavy Middleweight Champion
- 1-time BCW Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time ECWA Tag Team Champion, with Low-Ki
- 1-time FIP Heavyweight Champion (current)
- 1-time MCW Light Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time MCW Southern Tag Team Champion, with Spanky
- MSW
- 1-time MSW Junior Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time NWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, with Curry Man
- 1-time ROH World Heavyweight Champion (current)
- 1-time TWA Tag Team Champion, with Spanky
- 2005 Best Technical Wrestler