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Daniel Bryan has created a legacy in WWE, but who can follow in his footsteps?On the 8th January episode of RAW, Daniel Bryan announced his retirement. It was a move that sent shockwaves throughout the wrestling world, despite his longstanding absence through injury, and deprived fans everywhere of one of their true, modern day heroes.Particularly since another cult hero, CM Punk, left the company two years ago, Bryan’s departure will hit people perhaps harder than it usually would.During his most successful run in WWE, Daniel Bryan played an underdog inspired character who battled through many obstacles placed in front of him by The Authority and had massive odds stacked against him the whole time. Despite this, numerous championship reigns ensued, and Now, with Bryan retired, there is an open space in WWE for this type of a character to rise to the fore.Whilst Roman Reigns has been shunted into this position at the moment (despite him being too big to truly be considered an underdog), he will be winning the WWE World Heavyweight Title at some point soon and surely will move into a more Cena-like role within the company.Who will take up the resident underdog to take the fight to The Authority in the months and years to come? Here are 10 possibilities
#1 Kalisto
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The 2-time United States champion is on the rise in WWE. Kalisto has steadily been gaining momentum ever since a big victory over Ryback in November 2015, and seems to be right on the verge of being a major player.
A strong US Title run could result in a move up the card for the Lucha libre man, and could place him in prime position to challenge The Authority or to move up and look to bag the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
It has to be said that Kalisto reminds us a lot of Rey Mysterio, himself the “ultimate underdog” and with his small stature and a flying moveset, Kalisto could easily transition into the role of the underdog who has to fight for everything he’s got.
That story is being told currently, in his back-and-forth series with Alberto Del Rio over the US Title, meaning Kalisto already has some experience in playing the sympathy provoking babyface. If he continues to progress, who knows how far he could go?
#2 Hideo Itami
Out of everyone on this list, Itami is probably the man who has the most similar in-ring style to Daniel Bryan. Possessing a furious kick-based attack, reliant on speed and with fantastic technical ability, Hideo Itami could easily win over fans with his high-octane attack once he gets to the main roster, much like Bryan did.
Fans crave to cheer for an underdog, and a small Japanese wrestler entering the WWE for the first time provides just that, so Itami’s story is already partly laid out once he rises from NXT. A worldwide respected name, as with Bryan, there are actually a lot of similarities between the two that fans would definitely latch onto Itami if he was put in the right situations.
A gauntlet match against Authority-picked opponents would show everybody of Itami’s resilence, and from there he could progress into a genuine star talent if handled correctly.
#3 Kofi Kingston
Kofi Kingston may be an odd choice, considering how he’s currently tearing it up as part of WWE’s most entertaining heel act – New Day, but let’s not forget that for years up until 2015, Kofi was a firm fan favourite.
A multi-time Intercontinental and United States Champion, for years, Kofi defined exactly what a mid card underdog was, and had an uncanny knack for keeping the fans onside.
Now he’s clearly more developed as a performer, thanks to his time in The New Day, and is far better equipped to go on a run battling The Authority and other stars at the top of the card. A truly phenomenal athlete, Kofi can really tell a great story in the ring and would be very well suited to the battling underdog role.
He deserves one more chance to prove he can be in the main event, and placing him in the anti-authority underdog spot would be a great chance to find out if he can.
#4 Sami Zayn
Everybody thought it was Sami Zayn’s time to shine in May 2015 when he answered John Cena’s US Open Challenge and put on an amazing match. Unfortunately, he was injured during his entrance and aside from a stint in the Royal Rumble match, he’s not seen the main roster since.
However, when he eventually trades NXT for the main roster, you can bet he’ll have fans behind him in droves waiting for him to make an impact.
He’s already done the whole Daniel Bryan “chase the title” thing, in NXT, so he’s experienced in that area. Zayn is fantastic in the ring and is one of the better storytellers in the entire company, so his big matches as an underdog on the main roster will feel that much more important.
Once everything comes together and business in NXT is complete, I’m sure Zayn will head for the main roster and create more history.
#5 Neville
Neville is one of the most impressive wrestlers in all of the WWE. He has an amazing physique, is great to watch in the ring and consistently produces excellent matches.
He’s already got an experience of playing the underdog, notably in a fantastic and terribly underrated match on RAW last year between Neville and Seth Rollins. Both men were fantastic, and Neville even hit Red Arrow and came agonisingly close to winning the WWE World Heavyweight title from Rollins.
The whole crowd were on the edge of their seats, desperate to see a Neville win. WWE should have taken note of this, and let him in the hunt for a title and play the underdog role once more. Have him go up against the likes of Triple H, Randy Orton, John Cena, and let him chase the titles and watch how he enraptures fans on the journey.
It could easily happen.
#6 Finn Balor
Finn Balor has been a cornerstone of NXT for a long time now, he’s the current champion and surely there is a time in the not too distant future where he is going to be a permanent fixture on the main roster.
One of the best wrestlers in the world outright, it’s a tantalising thought to even consider Balor chasing the WWE World Heavyweight title as The Authority inserts roadblocks at every turn.
Currently playing a babyface – although not an underdog – coming out of NXT and onto the main roster would instantly give him that tag. From there, due to his ability to have a great match with basically anybody, any feud he had with an upper card heel would further entrench him as a Daniel Bryan type figure.
He has the looks, the wrestling ability and the charisma to be a huge star.
#7 Dolph Ziggler
Arguably the most underrated series of matches last year was Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan’s battles, shortly before Bryan took his leave of absence.
For many years now, Ziggler has been a guy that most of the crowd absolutely loves, as well as someone who can always be relied upon -- perhaps more than anyone else on the roster, -- for a great match. Ziggler last World Heavyweight Title as a heel back in 2013, so a run at the big boys as an underdog may prove to be wildly popular.
Dolph showed at Survivor Series 2014 that he can hang with the main event crew and get the crowd massively on his side as a face; the audience was absolutely hooked to the battle between Ziggler and Rollins.
The number of amazing five-star matches Ziggler could have as an Authority-defying fan favourite is something that WWE shouldn’t ignore, as Dolph deserves a fair shot at the main event and the fans deserve to see it.
#8 Seth Rollins
Pretty hard to imagine that smug, self-serving, arrogant guy with the backing from The Authority could be a Daniel Bryan type figure, right? Wrong. Despite Rollins’ heel allegiances, he would play a fantastic underdog.
Rollins is one of the most talented wrestlers on the planet, and he carried WWE in 2015 with his astonishing work rate and tendency to never have a bad match. These qualities had fans dying to cheer for Rollins, and when he got injured it seemed to bring to life the possibility that he could return as a massive fan favourite.
From the way he wrestles to his independent background, Seth Rollins shares many similarities with Daniel Bryan. As Triple H is the man who stripped Rollins’ WWE World Heavyweight Title from him upon injury, there’s a ready-made anti-Authority storyline to work with there.
Rollins will no doubt come back hungry for his title back, and there’s a fair chance The Authority may stand in his way. What a treat we’d be in for, if that turned out to be the case.
#9 AJ Styles
AJ Styles has just come into WWE, and crowd reactions have been very encouraging. The fans seem to be into him, his in-ring work hasn’t missed a beat and so far and to sum it up – he’s being used correctly.
The future is looking bright for Styles, and what a fantastic scenario it would be, if he were to embark on a Bryan-esque run to the top. Clearly, as proven by WWE already using it as a stick to beat him within promos, his size ensures he’s seen as an underdog.
The first thing he did in a WWE ring was going toe to toe with one of its biggest stars – Roman Reigns – and the crowd went wild. WWE would do well to put Styles in similar situations in the future, against physically bigger stars, or handpicked Authority heels, and watch him thrive.
Through much of his TNA career, AJ was seen as an underdog, which makes him familiar with such a character development and storyline.
The crowd are already into him hugely, so there’s no need for WWE to have to build him up before sending him into battle the elite stars. AJ Styles is one of the most prepared men to take on a role of this calibre.
#10 Dean Ambrose
Dean Ambrose would be a massively popular choice to become an underdog Authority-basher. He already has issues with the powers that be, so putting him into a long-running storyline against them would be easy.
Quite simply, everyone is high on Ambrose right now. He’s probably the most universally popular star on the roster, and fans would love nothing more than to see him elevated to permanent main-event level after some flirtations with it in the past.
As Intercontinental Champion, Ambrose has been part of the most engaging feud in the company against the impressive Kevin Owens, and surely it’s only a matter of time before WWE realises that fans want to see Dean reach even higher and give him a shot.
Whilst it’s very unlikely he beats Reigns and Lesnar at Fastlane, imagine if he did. He’d end up facing Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania. A repeat of the final two in the Royal Rumble match, the fans would go crazy for that.
Intercontinental Champion vs WWE World Champion, the Lunatic Fringe vs the King of Kings. It would be a fascinating match that would be a hit with kids and adults alike. From here, win or lose, Dean would assuredly not be done with The Authority and easily assume a role similar to Daniel Bryan.
Fighting tooth and nail just to be given a fair shot, with obstacles constantly being stacked against him.
#11 Conclusion
Just to make it clear, I’m not saying that any of the wrestlers in the list will be “the new Daniel Bryan”. Bryan is absolutely one of a kind, the likes of which we may never see in the WWE for a very long time yet and cannot be directly replaced.
The point at hand was, whilst Daniel may now be gone from the company, his spirit in the ring can live on in the form of those who fight hard for everything and never give up, even in the face of unfair obstacles and the guys on this list are some of the superstars I feel would excel in this sort of role.
Every man on the list (but particularly Ambrose, Styles, Ziggler – just my opinion) deserves to have a shot at this kind of run, and all of them have their own special qualities that would make their own underdog story a unique one.
Thanks for reading, and thank you, Daniel Bryan!
