Athletes - Bryan Danielson

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	Athletes - Bryan Danielson

Bryan Danielson is an American independent professional wrestler, also known as American Dragon. He is the current reigning Ring of Honor World Heavyweight champion. He is widely regarded as one of the best independent wrestlers in the world. Danielson's wrestling ability, technical skill, and style have earned frequent comparisons to WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, which Benoit himself acknowledges.

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.

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 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, 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.

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, 2006, Danielson is scheduled to defend the ROH World Heavyweight Championship against Roderick Strong in Chicago, Illinois.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Bryan Danielson ]

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