5 moves that make Daniel Bryan who he is today

Daniel Bryan is a submission specialist, amazing in ring worker, connects well with the fans and has a colossal amount of incredible moves in his arsenal, a lot of which we rarely get to see. But in his time in the WWE, he has been able to adapt and show what a versatile worker he is and implement techniques based on the opponents he is working with. Let’s take a look now at 5 of Bryan’s most intriguing moves that make up the superstar he is today

#1 Flying Goat/Air Goat

This first slide actually features two highflying aerial moves that are generally more commonly known as the ‘Flying headbutt’ and the ‘Suicide Dive’ respectively.

Bryan is renowned as an outstanding technical wrestler but he is also known as a bit of a risk-taker. These two moves show that off and demonstrate Bryan’s passion to perform at the highest level possible. Bryan also uses many other high flying moves such as the front missile dropkick, top rope hurricanrana, superplex, etc.

Despite suffering a severe neck injury that almost forced him into an early retirement, he continues to use these high risk/high impact moves to astonish and electrify the fans.

The poetic nature in which Bryan soars through the air is actually quite beautiful to simply watch and appreciate.

#2 Repeated shoot kicks

The repeated shoot kicks to the chest have become synonymous with Bryan and are always guaranteed to get the fans out of their seat.

The move itself is fairly basic, it involves Bryan kicking a kneeled opponent multiple times in the chest before finishing them off with a roundhouse kick to the back of the head. But it’s the fans that make this move so spectacular, as they cheer and shout ‘Yes’ in tandem with Bryan striking his foe.

Bryan uses many different kicks throughout his matches but this iconic variation is indeed most memorable especially due to The Yes Movement always being in full effect.

#3 Cattle mutilation

A spectacular submission finisher that Bryan made famous while wrestling on the independent circuit under his real name ‘Bryan Danielson’ as well as his nickname ‘The American Dragon’. As a submission specialist it’s no surprise that Bryan has remarkable moves like this in his arsenal. However, despite serving as his main finisher while on the independent circuit, this submission has rarely made an appearance in the WWE which is actually quite a shame. But one can surely hope he starts using it again

#4 Yes lock

The submission specialist’s most used finishing hold since debuting with WWE. In his early WWE days, Bryan finished all of his matches with this fairly basic but super effective submission. Before popularising the YES chants, this was called the ‘LeBell lock’ adopted from Gene LeBell. Afterwards, this crossface move became referred to as the Yes or No lock, depending on Bryans heel/face status. He has also used variations of this move by using props such as a kendo stick, chain to apply this submission.

#5 Running knee

The move that put John Cena down and allowed Bryan to pin him cleanly in the centre of the ring. A turning point is Bryan’s career as he captured the WWE Championship (albeit not for very long thanks to Orton/HHH) for the first time through the use of his new finisher.

Surprisingly enough the move itself still hasn’t really been given any official name. Most now simply refer to it as the ‘Running Knee’. The Running Knee has now won Bryan numerous matches and function as his main finisher, overtaking the Yes Lock.

Daniel Bryan has an enormous plethora of amazing moves in his arsenal, a lot of which we rarely get to see. Bryan truly is a perfectionist and one of the greatest wrestlers in the entire world.