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Daniel Bryan was one of the biggest rising stars of WWE during the early 2010s, and the promotion gave him a world championship title in only one year following his main roster debut in 2010. He was introduced in front of the WWE audience as a part of the inaugural NXT competition, and much like the rest of the competitors, he started working as a wrestler after the competition ended.
In 2011, WWE organized two separate Money in the Bank Ladder matches for SmackDown and RAW, as the winners got the chance to challenge for the WWE Championship and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship separately. Daniel Bryan won the Money in the Bank Ladder match, which earned him a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship.
Daniel Bryan remembers cashing in his Money in the Bank contract
He cashed in the contract on the Big Show at the TLC event of the same year in December, who just defeated Mark Henry to win the title in a Chairs match. Bryan cashed in the contract successfully and became the World Heavyweight Champion. He recently remembered cashing in his contract in 2011 while speaking with Chris Van Vliet on the Insight Podcast. He said;
“So I was there, and then Vince found out that I was there, and then Daniel Bryan’s here, and then it’s like, oh! Because I had been involved in this thing with Mark Henry and Big Show. Okay, well, Mark Henry’s hurt, so they had to do like a real smoke and mirrors type chair match, and then Mark gets mad at Big Show. And then, just because I happened to be there, it’ll be shocking that Daniel Bryan comes in and cashes in on Big Show.
Daniel Bryan cashed in the contract on The Big Show at TLC 2011
"So even that was just a circumstance. If I hadn’t been booked, if Walmart hadn’t asked to have two WWE wrestlers sign at that on that particular day, that whole thing would have never happened. And Vince’s direction to me was go out there and celebrate like you just won the Super Bowl. Then that’s how the yes thing happened. A lot of these are just circumstances.
He dropped the World Heavyweight Championship to Sheamus at WrestleMania 28
"If they had let me at WrestleMania go out there and wrestle Sheamus for 20 minutes, and then he beats me, I don’t know if it would have stayed as hot. I mean, it was more angering that they just had him beat me in 18 seconds with one move. So it’s like all of these things are things beyond my control. I have nothing to do with any of these things. And they’re just these weird little gifts, right?”
Daniel Bryan had been a great WWE World Heavyweight Champion, as he even walked in as the champion at WrestleMania 28. But his title defence is considered one of the worst in the history of WrestleMania as he dropped the championship to Sheamus in only 18 seconds. A large number of fans expected it could have been the burial of Bryan, but he was just starting up. He went on to become one of the top stars of WWE after this event.
