WWE Monday Night RAW 25th anniversary: Ranking the 25 biggest stars

15. Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan may be the current General Manager of SmackDown Live, but so many memorable moments in his WWE career came on Monday Night RAW.

After a forgettable run in WWE at the turn of the century and a decade on the independent circuit, Daniel Bryan made his way back to the company in 2009 and first appeared on television on the first season of NXT, which wasn’t anything like it is today, as the “rookie” student of The Miz, with whom he feuded once he got to RAW. After beating him in a one-on-one match, Bryan joined up with the rest of the rookies as The Nexus. The group of youngsters invaded RAW on June 7, 2010 and attacked John Cena. During the ruckus, Bryan attacked ring announcer Justin Roberts and choked him with his own necktie. Apparently, that was too violent for the new PG-era style of WWE and Bryan was actually released.

Figuring out they might have acted a little irrationally, WWE brought him back in August as part of Team WWE in a seven-on-seven elimination match with The Nexus at SummerSlam. Now an official member of RAW, Bryan won his first championship in WWE just over a month later by defeating The Miz for the United States Championship, a reign that lasted nearly six months.

Soon after, he was drafted to SmackDown and won the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, which in turn led him to his first World Heavyweight Championship, a belt he later lost in 18 seconds at WrestleMania XXVIII.

Bryan returned to RAW that year and got involved in a crazy (more puns) storyline with AJ Lee, but also found himself in the WWE Championship picture with titleholder CM Punk, which led to some very entertaining moments. Bryan was set to marry AJ on the 1000th episode of RAW but AJ left him at the altar, which led Bryan right into his rivalry and then allegiance with Kane, all of which I referenced a few entries ago. These skits were pure gold and still make me laugh to this day.

Bryan had become one of the most popular figures in WWE, and that led right into the “YES” movement, which became one of the biggest things to ever hit Monday nights. Crowds chanted in unison (still do) anytime his name was even mentioned. He was the first to cleanly beat The Shield and was personally chosen by John Cena as the number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which he won at SummerSlam in 2014, only to have Triple H attack him, which in turn allowed Randy Orton to come in and cash in his Money in the Bank contract. This led to the storyline that would come to define Daniel Bryan’s career.

His battle with Triple H and The Authority was one of the most memorable in history. For six months, Triple H and Stephanie tried to keep him down, but he wouldn’t go away and had crowds all over the world in the palm of his hand, so much so that creative had to change their original plans for WrestleMania. That’s some serious power right there. The “Occupy RAW” segment on March 10, 2014 was ranked the third-best moment in the show’s history recently, and it’s not likely we’ll see something like that again anytime soon.

Unfortunately, after winning the title at WrestleMania XXX, Bryan had to relinquish the title due to injury, something he’d have to do again a year later after winning the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 31. On one of the most emotional nights in RAW history, Daniel Bryan had to officially announce his retirement on Feb. 8, 2016. He’s obviously now on the blue brand as the GM, but his time on Monday nights was unforgettable.