10 current wrestlers who were legends even before joining WWE

#2 Daniel Bryan

The Founding Father of Ring of Honor.

Daniel Bryan was the hero of two of the biggest WWE stories of the past 4 years. While his ascent to the top of the Ladder after Punk's departure was nothing short of a fairy tale for both Bryan and his fans, his subsequent return to wrestling after staying away from the ring for almost 3 years was the culmination of a long due dream that fans had been craving to have since his retirement in 2016.

Long regarded as one of the most complete and popular Superstars in WWE history, it was not in WWE that Bryan actually made a name for himself.

Bryan was always associated with the independent circuit before he made his WWE debut in 2010.

In fact, Bryan, who wrestled under his real name Bryan Danielson, is regarded as the 'Founding Father' of ROH. It was his feud with Samoa Joe that put the company on the wrestling map.

Just like his Championship history in WWE, Bryan also had an illustrious title record before he came to WWE.

His only reign as ROH World Champion was one of the best reigns in the history of the organization, while he was the last person to win ROH Pure Title before it was unified with World Title.

He also had two-reigns with the PWG champion while working extensively on the independent circuit.