At All In 2024, Bryan Danielson defeat Swerve Strickland to, for the first time, capture the AEW World Championship. The victory was sensible enough both from the perspective of being one of the best all-around professional wrestlers in the world and, as many pundits framed it, as a lifetime achievement award.
Indeed, Danielson has lost many more high profile matches than he has won since signing with the company, but this victory and the subsequent announcement that he plans to retire from full-time performance when he loses the title have compelled fans to think more about his career and legacy.
One prime question about Danielson comes down to how one should compare his efforts in WWE with his time elsewhere. He was active in WWE from 2010 to 2021 as Daniel Bryan, though nearly four years of that time was lost due to what appeared to be career-ending injuries. Despite sporadically appearing in WWE, mostly as an enhancement talent, from 2000 to 2003, he spent most of his first decade of his career on the indies, though, arriving at a reputation as one of the best technical wrestlers in the world. He’s added onto that legacy with these past three years in AEW.
So which version of Danielson left the bigger mark? There’s a lot to consider.
Bryan Danielson Achieved Fame And Respect Independent OF WWE
When Daniel Bryan arrived on WWE television in 2010 as a “rookie” to be mentored by The Miz in early NXT, he garnered an unusual reaction. He was a rare star—particularly for that era—who had built a real name for himself without WWE exposure, considered by many at the time to be the best wrestler in the world not to have ever been signed with WWE. The fact that The Miz—a hated performer whose aesthetic was very “sports entertainment,” and as such the antithesis of Bryan’s ethos, only piled on the heat.
This reception was all a testament to what Bryan Danielson accomplished on the indies and, in particular, in ROH as an in-ring virtuoso with a deceptive charisma that had allowed him to connect with fans at a high level.
Danielson has only added to this legacy in AEW, including instant classic matches with Kenny Omega, MJF, Swerve Strickland, and plenty of others. Few and far between are the wrestlers who’ve gotten over at the highest level in absolutely every environment they’ve set foot in. Danielson is that guy.
Daniel Bryan Was A WrestleMania Main Eventer
There are a lot milestones that define the most successful wrestlers in the world. Winning a world title anywhere—but particularly where the lights are on brightest in WWE—is an accomplishment. Winning a world title in the final match of a WrestleMania is on the next level, though—a very specific feat only eighteen performers have ever accomplished. Indeed, there’s a real case that this feat is what separates the defining characters of WWE lore from more experimental world champs like Jinder Mahal or Jack Swagger.
Bryan is on that list with a showing that arguably belongs on the Mount Rushmore of greatest WrestleMania main event performances. That’s not to mention that he also main evented in a losing effort seven years later, and worked two other ‘Mania world title matches across his tenure.
While, as Bryan Danielson, he also worked and won a historic All In main event in front of over 80,000 people, it remains difficult to put that kind of accomplishment on part with headlining WrestleMania given how iconic that show’s brand has grown over the last four decades.
Bryan Danielson And Daniel Bryan Have Both Had Great Matches
One consistent factor for Bryan Danielson and Daniel Bryan is that, across the board, he has produced great matches. In WWE he more than held his own in some of the best matches stars ranging from John Cena to Triple H to Randy Orton to Roman Reigns ever had.
Before signing with WWE, though, Danielson built a reputation on classics with the likes of Nigel McGuinness, KENTA, and Takeshi Morishima. In AEW, his best bouts include outings with Zack Sabre Jr., Will Ospreay, and Adam Page.
There’s a case to be made Danielson’s greatest ring work, from a purist’s perspective, came outside WWE, but his ability to bring a more technical and stiff style to the masses in WWE—including opposite some opponents less known for work rate–represents an accomplishment all its own.
Daniel Bryan Reached A Larger Audience
At the end of the day, evaluating whether Daniel Bryan or Bryan Danielson has the greater legacy comes down to personal opinion given both were great and, of course, it was ultimately the same performer responsible for both, and it’s impossible to completely disentangle one from the other.
Nonetheless, at the end of the day it does matter that Daniel Bryan performed in front of a larger sustained audience. That’s important for his reach and accessibility. It also matters for just how impressive it was for an undersized “work rate guy” with an non-traditional personality for wrestling to get over at the highest level in WWE, and particularly when it was still under Vince McMahon’s creative leadership with his more specific vision for what a superstar should look like.
Call him Daniel Bryan. Call him Bryan Danielson. At the end of the day, the man belongs in the conversation among the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and it’s fitting that fans of different aesthetics, who follow different promotions, all have large bodies of work to appreciate from him.
