Thank You Daniel Bryan

Over the past few years we have been treated with some truly talented individuals that have stepped foot into the squared circle and one Daniel Bryan or Bryan Danielson aka the American Dragon, is one of those elite. His in-ring performance was mesmerising, pack that together with his personality and charisma, you have a truly world-class sports entertainer on your hands.

But sadly, Danielson was plagued with injuries, one was so serious that he had to step down and vacate the WWE heavyweight championship, a title he has worked so hard for, and now it appears as if he may never wrestle again.
Today, Daniel Bryan took to his Twitter account to announce the following;

Due to medical reasons, effective immediately, I am announcing my retirement. Tonight on Raw, I'll have a chance to elaborate. #gratitude

— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) February 8, 2016

At first we thought it was coming. A neck injury is something that you should never take lightly, but then we heard word that he was cleared to wrestle via the UCLA, so we were patiently waiting for the WWE to clear him, too. But, it appears that perhaps it's just as we feared.

Daniel Bryan first caught my eye when he was wrestling for Ring of Honor under the name Bryan Danielson aka the American Dragon, here he honed his skills and had some of the most memorable matches. He had some epic bouts with the likes of Christopher Daniels, Low Ki and Austin Aries to name but a few. this guy was the real deal. Before he hit ROH, he signed a developmental deal with the WWE, where he worked down at Memphis Championship Wrestler, and had the pleasure of being trained by one of the most prolific technical wrestlers ever, William Regal.

From there he worked and was nearly called up to the main roster of the WWE, as he was set to be used during WWE's Cruiserweight Division, but that never came through. Instead he ventured to Japan, before joining ROH.

Here he became an absolute beast, he won the Survival of the Fittest Tournament in 2004, thus cementing his ability as a performer. The gold eluded him until 2005, at ROH's Glory by Honor IV where he defeated  James Gibson for the ROH World Championship and 2005-2006 became the year of Danielson.

For the next few years he would wrestle at ROH and many indie promotions before finding his way to WWE's Florida Championship Wrestling, where he would train once again for the WWE. Then finally, Danielson found his way to the inaugural episode of NXT on February 23, 2010. But, this wasn't to be and he ventured into the indie circuit once more before finally returning to the WWE for good.

This was the time where Daniel Bryan firmly began climbing the ranks. He gained the U.S. Championship, the Intercontinental Championship the World Heavyweight Championship and then finally after a slew of hurdles, he captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and the Yes! movement was firmly underway.

He was set to become possibly one of the greatest if not the greatest champion of all time. The matches he would have had against some of the talent the WWE has to offer would have been nothing short of perfection. Sadly, an injury forced him to step down, and that was that. Thankfully though, he still is involved and still active in some capacity.

The guys is a freakin' workhorse and one of my personal favorite matches of his was his match against Lance Storm at ROH's Better Than our Best in 2006. It was a wrestling fans dream. They killed it. So, while Daniel Bryan appears to be retiring, I thank him for the great performances he has gave us through the years. Thank you Bryan.

Here's a little treat for you guys that may not have witnessed it. With AJ Styles now in the WWE, it would have been awesome to see AJ and Daniel Bryan go at it at WrestleMania, but they still went at it IWA Mid-South's An IWA Homecoming. Enjoy.