2. vs Randy Orton and Batista – WrestleMania XXX
The answer, of course, is nobody. To cap things off after beating Triple H, Bryan went on to defeat the other two members of Evolution later that same night. It kind of makes The Shield look like wusses for needing all three of them to do the same thing, doesn’t it? Of course, we’re only kidding, but Bryan played his role in this match to perfection. He got beaten up by two bigger guys, repeatedly, but kept coming back. He got strapped into a stretcher, but fought his way up and went right back into the match (Roman Reigns should have taken note of how bad-ass Bryan looked at that point, instead of rolling off the stretcher and walking to the back before returning 30 minutes later at the 2016 Rumble). The Authority ran in and tried to screw him over, first by interfering on their own and then by inserting a biased referee, and Daniel Bryan prevented all of that from stopping him. In the end, Daniel Bryan forced Batista to tap out (almost as if in apology for the Rumble win), and stood tall in the ring as WWE World Heavyweight Champion as confetti rained down and fireworks exploded. The main event of WrestleMania XXX was more than a match, it was an experience.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2l1jqq Source: dailymotion.com
1. vs John Cena – SummerSlam, 2013
While WrestleMania was the culmination of a story that started here, and neither of them were actually Bryan’s first World title in WWE, this was by far the best match Daniel Bryan had in WWE. Bryan’s biography talks about how Cena himself wanted this match, and talked Vince McMahon up into how big of a deal it would be that Vince actually decided to push the match to the second-biggest Pay Per View of the year, SummerSlam, instead of holding it at the less important Money in the Bank show a month earlier. With that kind of support behind it, it should be no shock that it exceeded all expectations. Cena, who is not-so-secretly one of the best wrestlers on the roster when he needs to be, brought his “A” game and not only broke out some innovative offense, he sold for Bryan more than anyone had in his WWE career up to that point. Few things did more to make Daniel Bryan a legitimate main event talent than John Cena selling Bryan’s kicks like he was getting shot at close range, and ultimately laying down to a single instance of Bryan’s flying knee finisher. In an age where main event matches involved multiple kick-outs from finishers, Bryan’s was sold like death itself, by a man who kicks out of everything at least once, and turned Bryan from a crowd favorite into The Man. Of course, the aftermath nearly screwed everything up for a while, but it all worked out in the end.
http://www.cagesideseats.com/2014/8/16/6019335/ranking-summerslam-2-2013-john-cena-vs-daniel-bryan Source: cagesideseats.com
Stephen Randle
Stephen Randle is an avid wrestling and film fan. He's been writing about WWE, movies, and video games for Goliath since 2015.