I still have a lot to learn about professional wrestling and myself.

Kids in elementary school are mean

My love of wrestling died in 2011. Now that is a strong statement but you have to understand I was a coward at the young age of nine years old. I would constantly talk up my dream of being a pro-wrestler specifically I wanted to be an “Ice Ninja” however when I was told I could be put in a casket match against my will and that I would die for real I pussied out, I was a verry Gullible kid. Going forward wanted nothing to do with wrestling. I didn’t watch much wrestling anyways, most of my fandom was based on the video games anyway and I rarely watched Raw anyways since I didn’t know how TV guides worked. I would still play the occasional wrestling game and I do recall enjoying the scooby doo crossover but besides that my interest in wrestling was totally dead forever.

With all that said I remember two wrestlers standing out to me. Daniel Bryan and Sin Cara. The latter was for the simple reason I loved masked wrestlers/characters and thus he was the coolest looking wrestler I had ever seen. But the former was harder to explain. I never saw Daniel Bryan perform at this point, so all I had to judge was his look. He looked so… normal. It was off-putting to me, I didn’t understand the hype.

Year’s later I had once again become a pro-wrestling fan and in 2024 both Sin Cara/Mistico and Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson have become some of my all-time favorite wrestlers. The feud between AEW and CMLL earlier in the year made me want to curious. Both of the guys were in WWE at the same time when I wasn’t watching so why not check out a random match on smackdown between the two.

A little match on Smackdown

The match is short, but I think it perfectly exemplifies what makes these two greats. While the match is not the best either man was capable of, everything in it works well to make it a breezy and fun. The story of the match is simple, Daniel Bryan trying to keep the highflyer on the ground with submissions. One of my favorite instances of this is after knocking Sin Cara down with a dropkick, Bryan locks in a Romero special. However instead of just holding the submission he shifts Sin Cara’s weight and drops him with a tiny bridging german suplex. Another very subtle instance I enjoyed was when Bryan is stretching Sin Cara, Sin attempts to stand up but Bryan places his foot on the back of Sin Cara’s knees. This stops Sin Cara long enough for Bryan to transition into kicks. Again nothing major but when I saw it I felt all the neurons in my brain fire up. Bryan’s striking is also as excellent as ever in particular Bryan hit’s a beautiful diving drop kick off the top rope that Sin Cara bumps for beautifully.

This essay is mostly focused on Bryan but Sin Cara’s performance can not be denied. His dives are gorgeous and he is responsible for speeding up the pace of the match. Even without his performance the match is still heavily focused on Sin Cara. WWE has his gaudy light set up but also Chavo Guerrero is on commentary to further along a storyline between the two. Even the finish has Chavo Guerrero interfere, distracting Brian long enough for Sin Cara to hit the Spanish fly for the win.

Growing up

Daniel Bryan is the third most important person in this match, which fascinates me to no end. When I got back into wrestling in 2018 Bryan was on the cuff of his return. By this point Bryan was viewed almost like a Greek myth. A legend whose time was cut short by the cruel nature of fate, only to return like a phoenix at WrestleMania 34, the very first WrestleMania I’ve ever watched. Bryan in my newly revived fandom has never been anything but a legend and thus I have always seen him as such. So seeing him in this more humble setting made the match stick in my mind way more. Sure I’ve seen matches in his early career in ROH and his work in smaller venues yet nothing has made him feel so…normal. It showed me that the world and history of wrestling is so large and vast that even in the most popular and basic companies I still have blind spots. I knew there was a time where Bryan was not treated like a star but hearing about something and seeing it in action is very different. Bryan as a performer and how he has been viewed by the wrestling community as whole has shifted and evolved to the point where any fan can tell you he is an undeniable GOAT candidate.

I have also changed. I think for too long in my life I had been satisfied with just hearing about how great certain wrestlers are. I’ve heard people praise the likes of Terry Funk or Nick Bockwinkel before and for a long time I never put the effort in to learn about their work. Now however I have a deep yearning to learn more, I can’t be satisfied with being told that someone was great or that someone was bad I want to actually experience these things for myself. I am glad that this match and Bryan’s humble performance was able to help fuel that drive.