by Daniel Bryan
My final main event pay-per-view performance with Orton was at Hell in a Cell, in the event’s signature match in which most of the ringside area is enclosed in a giant, roofed cage. Shawn Michaels was made the special guest referee—an interesting plot twist since he was my original trainer and is also Triple H’s best friend. This was probably the best of the three major matches Randy and I had, but again, it ended in a strange finish. Shawn got knocked down somehow, prompting Triple H to come into the cage to check on him, along with a doctor. I went over to check on Shawn as well, but Triple H threw me down. When I got up, I charged and hit him with the running knee, just as Shawn recovered in time to see it. Though he was the ref, Shawn himself superkicked me, then counted as Randy covered me for the win.
When I initially heard the finish, I thought maybe WWE had convinced Shawn to come back and face me at WrestleMania months later, which would’ve given meaning to the closing moments of my match with Randy. Shawn had done a retirement match with the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI, but wrestlers rarely stay retired. If such was to be the case for me and Shawn, the whole finish would have been amazing. Performing against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania is my ultimate dream match because not only was he my original trainer, he’s also known as “Mr. WrestleMania,” boasting more show-stealing matches at the big show than anybody in history.
After speaking with Shawn, however, it became clear he had no intention of ever wrestling again, and the finish was constructed the way it was just to get out of the situation while still protecting me from losing. I appreciated the fact that WWE bothered with protecting me, but again, the fans left feeling dissatisfied in a way that didn’t help business going forward.
Though I did not get a WrestleMania match with Shawn, I still got to experience a cool moment with him the following night on Raw. I was in the ring, and he came out to explain himself to me, asking me to shake his hand, which I refused. Shawn then slowly turned into an arrogant asshole, demanding that I shake his hand, which I did, then immediately turned the handshake into the “Yes!” Lock as retribution for the previous night’s incident on pay-per-view. Shawn is a master storyteller, both with his wrestling and his promos, and being able to do that with him was a lot of fun.
Later in the night, I was attacked by the Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan), which essentially ended my two-month run as a main-eventer. I feel like I did well in terms of performance, more so with my ability to carry multiple segments on Raw—wrestling and talking—and I got vastly more comfortable on the microphone during this time. But when you’re in the top position, it’s your responsibility to draw in the fans. It doesn’t matter how well you wrestle or how well you talk if fans don’t pay to see it. In that regard, I failed, and I didn’t think I convinced the higher-ups in WWE that I was anything more than a “B+ player.”
In the middle of my main event run with Randy and The Authority, something in my personal life overshadowed what was going on at work. On September 25, 2013, I asked Bri to marry me.
I originally planned on proposing to Bri a couple of months later when we returned to Boston. My intent was to go back to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (where we had our first date), take her to the third floor (which we didn’t make it to on our first visit), and propose to her there. I know it’s kind of cliché to propose where you had your first date, but for good reason: Your first date is an important milestone in your life, and thus it’s a return to where the whole thing started.
But in late August, Russell, the lead producer of Total Divas, asked me if I’d be willing to have the proposal take place on the show. I was OK with it, but they needed it to happen soon to make the season-two midseason finale. I already had the ring, custom-made from an awesome jeweler in New York who specializes in environmentally friendly and socially responsible jewelry. Most importantly, I wanted to make sure the moment was special and not thrown together, so together with Russell and Nicole, Bri’s sister, we formulated a game plan: Bri and I would go on a vacation to Big Sur, where Total Divas would film us staying in a handmade dome house in the woods. Bri would think it was because they just wanted to film us in a zany eco-retreat episode with beautiful scenery.
I hoped she wouldn’t suspect anything, but my big concern was Nicole. Being twins, the two of them tell each other everything. I was worried Nicole would let the cat out of the bag, but, luckily, she didn’t. Or if she did, Bri kept the secret so safe that she’s never told me.
My new plan was to propose to Bri somewhere along a five-mile hike at Big Sur. I didn’t know when or precisely where it would happen, because it was my first time on this hike that I only researched on the Internet beforehand. I figured I would just feel when it was right. But, in order for the crew trailing us to be prepared to get good footage of the proposal, we agreed to have me say a code word or phrase, something like “Boy, the sky sure does look blue.” In the meantime, for the sake of the surprise, the camera guys filmed most of the hike simply because it would seem strange to Bri if they didn’t.
Even though it wasn’t that steep a hike, it’s much more difficult when you’re loaded down with equipment. The crew’s sound guy never made it to the top, which made me feel a little bad but also made me laugh. Everyone was sweating by the time we made it to the top of the ridge with this beautiful view overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I knew immediately that this was the place and the time.
I was really nervous, and my hand started shaking. I knew Bri would say yes because A) we went ring shopping together in New York before WrestleMania 29, just so I could see the kind of style she liked, and B) from that moment on, she gave me grief about when I was going to propose. To add to my anxiety, I kept recalling how Bri once told me the only thing she cared about was the words I would say when I proposed. If the moment weren’t being filmed, that wouldn’t have been such a big thing, but if I messed it up on camera and it aired on Total Divas, I would never hear the end of it. I was so nervous that I forgot to say the code word. The cameraman wasn’t ready, and neither was whoever was handling the sound.
I was vaguely aware of scuttling going on around me as everyone rushed into position when they realized I was getting down on one knee. I looked at Bri and said, “It’s been two years, seven months, and ten days since the very first time we kissed. And it’s not enough. I want it to be forever, like all this,” referring to the endless-looking ocean. Then, for the very first time, I said, “I love you,” followed by asking her to marry me. Oddly enough, Bri was so excited in the moment that she couldn’t even process the words she previously said would be so important. Still, as you know, she said yes. It felt like the perfect moment.
Afterward, sitting on the cliff overlooking the ocean, we ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we’d packed . It was an incredible moment of calm and happiness. Our trip to the top of the mountain felt like an accomplishment of sorts, the end of one journey. When we got back to the bottom, it felt like a new journey had begun.
Bryan and Bri celebrate their engagement, September 2013
One of the things that made the proposal so special was that immediately afterward, we had a surprise engagement dinner that Total Divas had our families flown in to attend. They set up a beautiful area in the woods, and for the first time, our families got to meet each other. The cameras were rolling, but nobody even seemed to notice because we were all having so much fun enjoying the special moment.
There are certainly times when filming the show can feel invasive, but then there are moments like that—with elaborate and thoughtful planning—that Total Divas creates to demonstrate their appreciation, and it makes it all worthwhile.
I’d been dealing with a little bit of pain after the stinger I got in the match with Randy back in June, but all of a sudden it got substantially worse. The bulging disc was pinching on the ulnar nerve—which runs from your neck to your shoulder, through your triceps, past your elbow, and into your hand—driving pain down my entire right arm. The pain made
the two-week November European tour miserable as it started shooting at random, making it nearly impossible for me to sleep more than an hour or two at a time.
When we returned to the United States, I was sent to get my first epidural steroid injection: They use a long, thin needle to inject cortisone into the space surrounding the nerve, helping to reduce the nerve’s inflammation. That first shot helped a great deal, giving me my first relief from the pain in months, and I was finally able to sleep through the night. I was scheduled to get a total of three injections, spaced about a month apart, but during the second treatment, something went wrong.
They numb your entire upper back and neck area before the injection, so you’re not really supposed to feel much of anything. Given the amount of sensitive material around your neck and spinal column, they use X-ray guidance to direct the needle exactly where it needs to go. Somehow, on the second injection, the doctor hit the nerve with the needle and I screamed out “FUCK!” as an intense pain shot through what felt like my entire body. I was shaken up, and so was the doctor, yet when they asked me if I wanted to do it again, I agreed because I figured it couldn’t get much worse than that. The next attempt went fine, but didn’t end up giving me any relief from my existing pain.
Since the second treatment went so poorly and did very little for my pain, I chose not to get the third injection. I couldn’t do any heavy lifting, but acupuncture and massages helped minimize the discomfort. Fortunately, it wasn’t really affecting my wrestling. When my adrenaline is flowing, I tend to not feel much pain anyway. I was getting weaker, but luckily I designed my entire WWE offense around not lifting people up. And moves I do execute that involve moving my opponent’s body, like a snap or German suplex, are all about hip movement. The rest of my offense is comprised of high-impact strikes, submissions, and flying around. I continued to perform and finished up a tumultuous 2013, which ended with what will probably go down as my favorite show I’ve ever done.
My family has only been able to come to very few of my shows, either on the independents or in WWE. There just aren’t that many events that emanate from Washington State every year. One time, I performed in a crappy independent show in a flea market in our neighboring state of Oregon, just so my dad could come see me wrestle. It was a horrible show, but my dad had a great time.
On December 9, 2013, the annual Slammy Awards show emanated from Seattle, and my dad was able to get off work and go. Before the event, my dad and a couple of guests he brought with him to the show went to eat at a restaurant, and some people in Daniel Bryan T-shirts entered. His boss’s wife stopped them and told them he was my father. Just like me, my dad was a naturally shy person, so of course he got really embarrassed being pointed out like that, but the fans thought it was the coolest thing to meet my dad, and they asked for his autograph. This naturally made him even a little more shy, but he still signed for them, inscribing “Buddy Danielson, Daniel Bryan’s dad” on their tees.
Later that night, this Slammys edition of Raw started off with me wrestling Fandango, and the hometown crowd was going crazy for me from the very beginning. I could tell it was going to be a fun night. The Slammy Awards are voted on by the fans, and I went on to win multiple, including the ludicrous Beard of the Year award. Since Bri and I also won Couple of the Year, I went in to talk to Vince earlier in the night to ask about the two of us going out together for my match. He didn’t want that, but while I was there in his office, I also asked if there was anything he wanted me to say if I won the Slammy for Superstar of the Year. Vince just kind of laughed, almost in disbelief that I thought I could win, and told me I could say whatever I wanted.
Well, I did win—by probably the smallest margin in the history of the award, narrowly beating out John Cena. The Seattle crowd cheered wildly when I came out to accept the award, and at the end of my acceptance speech, I gave them a loud “Go Seahawks!,” a nod to Seattle’s favorite sports team. It was all actually pretty neat, because even though I don’t see winning Slammys as overly important, it was fun that Bri and Nicole won Diva(s) of the Year, I won Superstar of the Year, and together Bri and I won Couple of the Year. After I accepted my award, WWE took a bunch of pictures of us together holding the Slammys, which is nice because they were cute pictures (well, as cute as I get) that we can show our kids someday.
Bryan accepts the 2014 Slammy Award for Superstar of the Year
The end of the night featured the Championship Ascension, a symbolic hoisting of WWE’s two top titles, the WWE Title and the World Heavyweight Championship, above the ring days before they were to be unified at WWE TLC. In the ring for the ceremony stood past champions, including myself, as well as the current title holders, Randy Orton and John Cena. WWE was trying to bill the unification match as the biggest match in WWE history, given the significance the two titles previously had, but as soon as the segment started, the Seattle fans starting chanting for me. I was only out there because I was a previous champion, that’s it. In no way was I involved in the upcoming match, but the crowd didn’t care. As Triple H tried to speak, the entire crowd drowned him out in a sea of “Yes!” and “Daniel Bryan!” chants. I couldn’t do anything but laugh in the background, and I was almost concerned that somehow the whole thing would be blamed on me. Another former champion, Mark Henry, was standing next to me, and he raised my arm to huge applause, hoping that would help the crowd let it out and then they’d simmer down a little and get back to focusing on the segment. But that only made it worse. As Randy started to speak, the crowd just got louder and louder, cheering for me. Situations like this are why John Cena has been the top guy in WWE for the last ten years. Thinking quickly on his feet, he asked me to come forward, then asked a series of questions.
“What’s your name?”
“My name is Daniel Bryan,” I replied. Huge cheer.
“Where are you from?”
“I’m from Aberdeen, Washington.” Even louder cheer.
“Were either your mom or dad a past WWE Superstar?”
“Nope, my dad is actually a log scaler.” Another loud cheer, as logging is a huge industry in Washington.
And that’s where Cena turned it around. He said guys like me and him had to get to the top on our own, while Randy came in with everyone expecting him to succeed because his dad was a WWE Hall of Famer. John got the segment right back on track and focused on the title unification match. At the conclusion, a brawl broke out, and the show ended with—you guessed it—“Daniel Bryan!” chants. For the first time, what we later called the “Yes! Movement” essentially hijacked Raw.
After the segment, as the show was ending, my dad came up to the rail elated, as proud as he could be. I gave him a big hug and told him how happy I was he could come. My father later told my sister about the amazing time he had, about how loud the crowd was cheering for me and that people had even wanted his autograph, just for being my dad. He’d had a great time.
What made it my favorite show wasn’t winning the Slammys. Nor was it the amazing crowd reaction. It was that my dad got to see all that and got to be in the crowd while everyone was going crazy for me; he got to enjoy it, to stand back and be proud. I am incredibly thankful for that, because it was the last live show he would ever see.
For a few months after Hell in a Cell, I was in a story with the Wyatt Family, who’d been trying to get me to join their clan, led by cult leader Bray Wyatt. The Wyatts and I seemed like a natural fit. They all have huge beards (much bigger than mine), and they are pretty out-there characters. I had been pitching to join them and do some vignettes showing Bray brainwashing me, which we thought would be really cool. It was taken under consideration by WWE writers but was seemingly dropped until, randomly, on the final Raw of 2013, I actually did join the Wyatts.
It was weird because the story changed from Bray brainwashing me to me deceiving the Wyatts. It was all a part of my plot to destroy the group from the inside. Our connection wasn’t supposed to last very long, but I pushed and pushed and pushed
to get the whole story extended. Bray was on tap to begin a feud with John Cena leading into WrestleMania 30. I figured with me joining the Wyatts, it would add to their credibility, and as a result, I would be a part of one of the main stories heading into the biggest show of the year. Since there were really no plans for me for WrestleMania at the time, I thought being a part of this would at least give me something big to do, especially if I turned on them after ’Mania, when there is kind of a lull following the excitement of the big show.
But the week after I joined them, I ended up getting quite a bit of mainstream attention. I was in my hotel room when Titus O’Neil texted me and told me to put on ESPN’s SportsCenter. I never turn on the TV in my hotel rooms, but I did, and, much to my surprise, they were showing a whole arena at a basketball game chanting “Yes!” I had no idea what to make of it. The Michigan State college football team had just won the Rose Bowl the week before, and after a touchdown, Travis Jackson, one of the players, started “Yes!”-ing. The team was doing a huge celebration of their Rose Bowl win during the halftime of a Michigan State–Ohio State basketball game, and Travis got on the microphone to get the whole arena to start “Yes!”-ing as well. It caught on. The fans at the basketball game kept doing it throughout the rest of the game, especially when the other team was at the free throw line. Instead of the usual noodle things or wiggly balloons that basketball fans use to distract the other team, they used the “Yes!” chant. It was an amazing visual. Not only did SportsCenter pick up on it, but so did media sources around the country, and they all credited me as the inspiration. The whole thing blew my mind.