Yes!

by Daniel Bryan

  The Monday before WrestleMania XXVII, Raw was at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, and there was a big talent meeting before the show to talk about the busy week ahead. We were all handed packets that had lists of the vital information we would need: hotel and gym info, contact info, and the schedule of our appearances. It seemed like a normal meeting, until John Laurinaitis announced there had been a rehearsal added for some people on that coming Wednesday night. The rehearsal was for the preshow lumberjack match … between me and Sheamus. In front of all our fellow wrestlers, that was how we found out our match would take place, not on WrestleMania, but rather prior to the pay-per-view.

  I turned and looked at Sheamus across the room, and he just buried his head in his hands. I was upset, but I’d kind of figured something like that might happen, especially because Miz told me a similar thing had happened to him in the past. What did make the pay-per-view was an Intercontinental Title match between Cody Rhodes and Rey Mysterio. Their build was similar to ours, and it was the same tier of match, but they made it onto the show and we didn’t. I knew Sheamus should have chosen Rey.

  After the meeting, Sheamus and I talked. We were both very angry, not only about the move to being on the preshow but also because they just announced it in the meeting without warning us. We were determined to go out there and show everybody up, preshow be damned. However, once we got to the rehearsal, the match changed again. Sheamus and I would only get to wrestle about three minutes before the lumberjack match got out of hand and it turned into a giant battle royal, with Great Khali winning. The whole thing was thrown together that week to give everybody a chance to work in front of the largest crowd of the year.

  This was my first WrestleMania week as a real WWE Superstar, not as a Rookie from NXT, and it was filled with signings, media, and appearances. We were told not to say anything to the fans or media about our match being on the preshow. I was miserable all week, and it didn’t help when people would tell me they were looking forward to our match or they thought Sheamus and I were going to steal the show. I knew they’d all be disappointed.

  WrestleMania XXVII was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, before seventy thousand people. It was the largest crowd I’d ever performed in front of, and afterward I didn’t remember any of it. Sheamus and I did the best we could in the three minutes we had, but by the end of the night, I’m sure not a single one of those people even remembered we were on the show.

  After our match, I watched the rest of the show, yet I barely recall any of it, except thinking during the endless, horrible Michael Cole–Jerry Lawler match that surely they could have cut some time from that to get us on the pay-per-view, as we had advertised. But WrestleMania is a spectacle, not a wrestling show, which is why Snooki of Jersey Shore fame was on the show and we weren’t. As Regal explained to me when I signed with WWE, “Wrestling is what you did before this. Anything you get after is a bonus.” Despite the advice, I sat there disheartened. It was one of two WrestleManias I spent watching the show with my eyes glazed over.

  Several weeks after WrestleMania XXVII, WWE held what used to be its annual draft. Raw and SmackDown were completely separate crews, and there would be very little interaction between the two. If I were on Raw, very rarely would I wrestle somebody on SmackDown, and vice versa. Your brand also determined your schedule; the Raw crew worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday live events, then did TV on Monday, whereas the SmackDown crew did live events on Saturday and Sunday, went to Raw on Monday if needed (which I seldom was), and then did the TV taping on Tuesday.

  For the 2011 draft, I got moved from Raw to SmackDown, and I was thankful for the switch, because I’d hoped TV time would be easier to come by on SmackDown. On Raw I would be scheduled for a seven- or eight-minute match, and then somebody’s interview would go over on time, cutting my match down to two or three minutes, if it still happened at all. Teddy and Sheamus were also drafted to SmackDown, so our riding crew would be able to stick together. Overall I was pretty optimistic.

  It ended up being a great move. In my first SmackDown match, I wrestled Sheamus in a nearly ten-minute match. I lost, but I’ve always felt that if given time in my matches, I can get over, win or lose. I just needed the time to have a good match, and I was getting it. Almost every week, I’d have ten minutes to go out and wrestle, and slowly—again, win or lose—I felt like I was winning over the fans.

  The May pay-per-view was Over the Limit in Seattle on my birthday. Miz was the WWE Champion at this point after beating John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania. I pitched hard to do a title match with him at Over the Limit, with the concept of Miz, cocky and overbearing about being the champ, giving some scrub an opportunity to challenge him for the championship. I figured it would kind of be like the movie Rocky, especially being among my hometown crowd of Seattle and it being my birthday. That idea was shot down pretty quick. Instead, I did the preshow match against Drew McIntyre. Regardless of the fact that it was on the preshow, it was the first time I got a real hometown-hero, starlike reaction in Seattle—and the first time I’d ever gotten that kind of reaction in WWE.

  Bryan and mom, Betty, before the 2014 WWE

  Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

  Being that it was a pay-per-view, Superstars from both Raw and SmackDown were there, including Bri, who wasn’t drafted and had stayed on Raw. We weren’t able to see each other very much, so the night before, we got a hotel in downtown Seattle and had a really nice, romantic dinner. After Over the Limit, Raw was in Oregon, and my mom’s house was on the way from Seattle to Portland, so Bri followed me there, where my mom prepared a nice meal for us and made me a vegan birthday cake. She also made Bri one of her famous pumpkin cakes—my absolute favorite; Bri loved it and took the leftovers to Raw the next day for the other Divas. After the birthday dinner, Bri left for Portland and I stayed at my mom’s because I wasn’t needed for Raw, but as I went to bed, I felt truly lucky to have had such an amazing birthday.

  17

  TEXAS THROWBACK

  SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 2014—10:39 A.M.

  As the line of fans progresses, the man who could soon be the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion signs glossy 8x10s, posters, people (for real), shirts, replica titles, and even one-sheet programs from his past.

  Trey Gonzalez from Oklahoma City totes a Texas Wrestling Alliance match card from ten years ago yesterday that features Bryan as the American Dragon competing as a pupil in Shawn Michaels’s Academy. The throwback surprises Bryan as he autographs the heavily creased paper. Meanwhile, simultaneous to the signing, HBK participates in a live fan Q&A at Axxess. He’s asked about the thirtieth edition of WrestleMania and the match he’s most looking forward to seeing, a show stealer. He names Bryan’s bout with the Game.

  Soon afterward, the “Yes!” Man exits the event and settles into his vehicle from WrestleMania Axxess just outside the building’s rear loading dock. Bryan uses the few minutes in transit back to his hotel to examine a few unexpected gifts from WWE fans at the event, as well as unwrap some other presents. He smiles when holding a handmade construction paper booklet with marker drawings of himself with purple hair. He’s surprised by an early birthday card from another WWE Universe member, several weeks before the date on May 22. Bryan is also absolutely moved by a gift-wrapped box that contains twin antibacterial towels for future hikes with his bride-to-be. It’s a wedding present based on a comment Bryan recently made in an interview, and the thoughtfulness overwhelms him, particularly when reading the message inscribed on the card.

  “Your love is an inspiration,” writes Bibo Reyes.

  The gesture is an inspiration to Bryan.

  My first major opportunity to break through to the next level in WWE came in July 2011 at the Money in the Bank event in Chicago. There were two Money in the Bank matches, one for Raw and one for SmackDown, and the winner of each got a contract to compete for the main championship on their brand whenever they wanted, which usually meant when the champion was in a vulnerable posit
ion. No Money in the Bank winner had ever failed to become champion at this point, so it was a big deal.

  Kane, Sheamus, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Sin Cara, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, and I were all involved in the match, which also included ladders, tables, and a briefcase. It’s one of wrestling’s more hazardous stipulation match types so we had a rehearsal the night before.

  When we got to rehearsals, the most challenging element of putting the match together was WWE not knowing who they wanted to win. They knew Alberto Del Rio was going to win the Raw Money in the Bank, and they kind of wanted Barrett to win it on our side, but they worried the story of Wade winning would be too similar to Alberto’s victory, so they were still considering me and Cody, too. Jamie Noble was one of the producers for the match, and he pushed hard for me to win it, just because it would make the story on each brand so different.

  We arrived at the building the next day, and they still didn’t know who the winner would be, so we planned out a scenario where it came down to Wade, Cody, and me, and once we found out the finish we would adjust from there. When the production meeting was finally over, I got the good news that I was winning, yet they still weren’t a hundred percent sure that I was who they wanted. I was informed it still might change, so I didn’t get my hopes up—especially since the last time I was in Chicago, we had the meeting where Sheamus and I found out we were on the WrestleMania preshow, and that memory was still strong in my mind.

  There were eight men in the Money in the Bank ladder match, and that’s a lot of moving parts when it comes to climbing up ten to fifteen feet on a ladder to grab a briefcase. Not only do you have to worry about safety, but there’s also the concern of living up to the expectations of previous Money in the Bank matches, which have a history of being some of the wildest, craziest, most exciting matches in WWE history. And everyone has to play his part, which adds another level of stress. If someone gets hurt, not only do you feel bad for him, but it throws off everything else; the match can just fall apart. The same is true if someone forgets his part, which is why it was kind of amusing when Heath Slater was struggling to remember certain elements of the match. Right before we walked out, he said, “If I forget something we can just call it out there, right?” Immediately Kane, who had been in plenty of matches like this before, was like, “NOOOO!! We can’t! That’s why we had rehearsal, and that’s why we all had to remember our spots. If something gets messed up, then it messes up everything else!” Heath mumbled in response, and I could tell he was worried.

  I had my own concerns going into the match, first and foremost being that I’m terrified of heights. When I’m doing normal wrestling stuff, like going to the top rope, it’s not a big deal because I’m used to it. As soon as you get me trying to maneuver around way up high on top of a ladder, I get pretty nervous. Apart from the height thing, I was also worried about actually getting the briefcase off the clip that keeps it hanging above the ring. We went through it a few times, and I was probably only 50/50 with getting the briefcase loose. Lastly, I was worried about the crowd reaction to my win. I had gained steam from where I was several months before, but in no way was I a red-hot locomotive. I saw myself as someone the audience liked, but I was not sure they liked me enough to be ready for that kind of opportunity.

  Luckily, everything I was concerned about went fine. When I went out in front of the sold-out crowd, my fear of heights disappeared. I also managed to unhook the briefcase, even though I didn’t do it properly. At first I couldn’t get it loose, so I just took the hook off as well, which clanged around when I celebrated with the briefcase. And finally the Chicago crowd reacted just fine. They were excited it was a good match, and they seemed happy I’d won. It all went so well that the worst part of the match for me was trying to get down off the ladder when it was over.

  True to form, Heath did actually forget something; he kicked out the wrong ladder at the wrong time, and ended up having to take a bump from the top rope to the floor off a much higher ladder than anticipated. Still, somehow no one was hurt, the fans liked the match, and I was now the holder of the all-important Money in the Bank contract.

  In August, Bri and I had three days off, so we decided to take a vacation together to Yellowstone National Park. It was the first vacation of my adult life, and by this time I was thirty years old. We stayed in a small cabin outside the park, with just twenty feet between where we were and a beautiful river. We went horseback riding, whitewater rafting, and on a beautiful tour where we were just a few yards from a herd of bison. In the serenity of all this natural beauty, I realized I was in love.

  Everything with Bri was going great, but wrestling … not so much. After I won Money in the Bank, it seemed like I was going to get a bit more TV time, and at first I did. My subsequent pay-per-view appearance was a singles match with Wade Barrett at SummerSlam—my first one-on-one since Survivor Series the year before. Even though I lost, we were given a decent amount of time, and I thought I was back on track.

  I thought wrong.

  I started being used less and less on SmackDown. For a while, I was having competitive 10-minute matches, but then it devolved into either losing every week in under five minutes or, even worse, not being on the show at all. There was a real down period where I wasn’t on SmackDown for six weeks in a row. I talked to writers and pitched stories to get back on the program, but everything got shot down and met by a general indifference. When I left the independents, I knew I had to be prepared for situations like this in WWE. I had to focus on just coming in and doing my best—if something big happened, great; if not, I had to just keep a positive attitude and save my money. As it turns out, though, it wasn’t much more money than I was making on the independents, and trying to have a good attitude is easier to say than do when you’re really passionate about something yet feel you’re not being given a chance. Having won Money in the Bank, I knew they would have to do some sort of story with me eventually, but whenever I asked about it, nobody seemed to have any answers, and it felt as if they just wanted to forget about it. I started to have a feeling that I would be the first person to try to cash in my guaranteed World Title match and lose, although that could have easily just been paranoia.

  I felt very discouraged, and Cody Rhodes, who remembers my state at the time, refers to this period as a time when I was “Depressed Dan.” The only thing that would bring me happiness was having a good match. Therefore, the saving grace for that entire period—and the thing I’ve always enjoyed about WWE—was being able to wrestle on the live events. Even though I wasn’t doing anything on WWE programming, on the untelevised events, I could go out there and do whatever I wanted, and just wrestle to my heart’s content.

  But in late November, after what seemed like several long months doing nothing, I was injected into a story with Big Show and Mark Henry. Mark was the World Heavyweight Champion and was having a pretty awesome reign. They did a story where Big Show was trying to get me to invoke and “cash in” my Money in the Bank title match contract on Henry when he was down, but I wanted to wait until WrestleMania and be in the championship match on the biggest show of the year. Big Show kept urging me to do it, though, and right before I did, Mark Henry got up and gave me the World’s Strongest Slam. This led to a series of matches with Mark and me, including a steel cage match in my first SmackDown main event. There was also a moment when I actually did go down, cash in the contract on Mark (who was already beaten up), and for a moment held the World Heavyweight Championship. However, it was announced I couldn’t claim the title because Mark Henry “wasn’t cleared to compete” due to an ankle injury, and the title was taken away.

  All of this felt like I was just a prop to further the story of the two giants. I didn’t mind, because I was being thrust into the main-event angle after doing nothing for so long. Plus, WWE didn’t seem to have any idea about what they were going to do with the whole Money in the Bank situation for SmackDown. Then, shortly before the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC) pay-p
er-view on December 18, Mark got hurt. I hadn’t been booked on the previous pay-per-views—and not just “not being on the show” type of not booked, but “not even being in the city, sitting at home” type of not booked. At the previous pay-per-view, Survivor Series, Mark wrestled Big Show, and the two big men did an incredible superplex off the top rope; when they landed with all of that weight, the ring collapsed. Both of them were down, and the fans were chanting for me to come out and cash in the contract, but I wasn’t there. I was at home in Las Vegas. It was looking like I wouldn’t be at WWE TLC either, but at the last minute, I got booked at a Kmart to do a signing with Kelly Kelly before the show.

  It had only been earlier that week when Mark got injured, so WWE didn’t have a lot of time to figure out what they wanted to do with the World Heavyweight Championship going forward. Henry was booked in another title match against Big Show that night, which was a chairs match, and there was a thought to just have the giant win it. After my signing, I came to the building, not expecting to be doing anything. I was just chatting and goofing around (at one point, I was browsing the Internet for the best paper airplane design, as I recall). It was relatively close to showtime, and well after ticketholders were allowed in the building, that a referee came by and told me Vince wanted to see me in his office. I walked in and saw both Big Show and Mark Henry sitting along with Vince, who invited me to have a seat as well. He started walking me through the plan: Big Show would win the match and the title, then Mark would lay out Big Show by hitting him with a DDT. As Mark was getting out of the ring, I would run down with a referee, cash in the Money in the Bank contract, and—without doing a single move—pin Big Show to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. I sat there waiting for the punch line or for Vince to tell me what the next swerve was going to be, but it never came. Then he stood up, extended his hand, and said, “Congratulations.” I couldn’t believe it. I stood up and thanked him, Big Show, and Mark Henry, and as I was walking out, Vince told me to make sure nobody knew.