Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Bryan Danielson
For years I feared getting this phone call from one individual. It would go something like this, "I got an offer from WWE and I think I'm going to take it." Actually, I really only feared that phone call from two people. CM Punk was one of them, and he just told me in person. The other call came recently from Bryan Danielson.
Yes, it is selfish. I would book Bryan forever if I could and never see him go on to make big money and have the potential to be comfortable for the rest of his life. You see, Bryan is a booker's dream. He's an artist. He's a man of great character. He's a team player. He gets over his opponent first. He has an exemplary work ethic. He has confidence and knows what it means to be the top guy, but he doesn't have a big head or an ego. And he is just so awesome in the ring. He makes booking easy. Have a weak lineup because some guys are in Japan or Europe? Simple solution, give Bryan 15-30 minutes against just about anyone and you will have a DVD selling match. You DEPEND on this for your livelihood.
Normally, I don't sweat the WWE call. Don't get me wrong, it's never pleasant emotionally and I was always sad to see whatever talent got the call go. It was always The End of a span of time with someone I enjoyed working with and most likely shared some good times. However, after the initial despair faded I would get excited about the opportunity to push fresh talent and work with new people. I would always be happy for the person that signed since they would now have an opportunity to make a large amount of money and get security for life. However, with Punk and Bryan it was different. With Bryan it was very different.
Bryan was the first plane ticket we purchased when ROH was created. He made the promotion in the very first main event. He took a hiatus or two or three to reinvent himself, but besides that he carried the company on his shoulders for the 6 1/2 years I was there. When he would take some time off, he would come back a new wrestler and be completely fresh again. I'm ashamed to say that when ROH started I saw Bryan as the third guy of the "big 3" of Low Ki, Christopher Daniels and American Dragon. Ki was the face of the company. Daniels was the top heel. Bryan was the great worker who would ultimately put everyone over and wasn't quite a top guy. As the years rolled by, Bryan grew and improved and matured and improved and worked and improved. What we have just witnessed over the last eight or so years on the independents was truly an era. I mean, just look at the body of work Bryan has put together. It is an era. When Bryan moves onto WWE the era will end.
I have been lucky enough to watch Bryan perform at a high level through both ROH and FIP. I am even more fortunate to be able to watch Bryan wrestle one more time this Sunday at the Dragon Gate USA show in Chicago. I hope Bryan realizes what he has meant to me over the years. He has watched me grow as a booker from my very first show. He has played a major part in making me who I am today. He will always have my deepest appreciation and friendship.
I have reached the point in life that when that phone call came from Bryan I didn't feel panic or despair. Instead, I was overcome by a feeling of justice and happiness. Bryan is an inspiration. Here is a guy who has dedicated himself to his craft and made it into his own artform. He has put in the work over the years. He has overcome pain and injury to become a franchise athlete. He has defeated emotional and mental frustrations to lead by example. He heard all the reasons he would fail and laughed at them. He has not let anything stop him from progressing forward. This is an example all of us can learn from.
We have one more month to watch Bryan cement his independent legend and express our appreciation for all he has done. I urge everyone to make it out to a show he is on if it is within driving distance whether it's PWG in Reseda this Friday or the intimate AAW atmosphere outside Chicago on Saturday or Dragon Gate USA when I will book Bryan one final time on Sunday or CHIKARA on 9/13 in New Hampshire for the incredible looking tag of Bryan & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Bryan's final night in ROH at the Manhattan Center on my birthday, September 26th. It'll be really tough not being there. If you can go, do so by any means. That will be a very special night. Hey Bryan, you outlasted me in ROH!
I'll close this with a Bryan Danielson story:
It's the summer of 2006. Bryan and I know his world title reign will end at "Final Battle" to Homicide. We are about to go into a tough stretch of nine shows in six weeks. At the time, we had to make every event into a DVD seller, an almost impossible task with that many shows. This means that every card had to have its own selling point. We also wanted to secure Bryan's legacy as a great ROH World Champion.
I think you can tell by my booking in ROH that I grew up a big fan of the world champion going to an one hour draw on a regular basis. After all, it was the sign of the great WRESTLING champions from Ric Flair in my childhood to the legacies I heard about for the likes of Harley Race, Dory Funk and The Briscos. I had a crazy idea to do something that was unheard of in this decade, have the champion do several one hour draws just like the great world champions of yesteryear. I presented Bryan with the idea of doing draws with Samoa Joe, Nigel McGuinness and Colt Cabana during the month of August. Nigel and Cabana would be on back-to-back nights in a total throwback to the old school champs that would do broadways several times a week. I also felt that all three matches could be unique, despite having the same result, and that fans would want to see all three. Of course, it was easy for me to say. I had the simple part of putting pen to paper. Bryan would actually have to physically endure this schedule and mentally come up with stuff to make all three matches different.
He didn't need to be talked into it at all. He jumped at the suggestion. As I said, Bryan is an artist. He saw this as his chance to create. The result was a very good match against Joe. One of the most unheralded matches during my time in ROH against McGuinness. Then the Cabana match.
I have to admit that after the first few minutes of Danielson vs. Cabana I retreated to the back. I wanted to relax with some of the crew and tell them how proud I was of the fact that we just set a company record with nine shows in six weeks while maintaining the high quality expected from the "ROH" initials. I forget who, but someone came running to me.
"I think Bryan is hurt," the voice said with urgency.
I rushed out into the crowd to see. From my vantage point I couldn't tell if he was selling or really injured. I mean, he's fooled me before. Then Bryan and Cabana go into one of the most exciting, dramatic two minute finishing sequences I've ever seen and I figure Bryan has to be alright. I breath a sigh of relief and return to the locker room to start wrapping things up.
Bryan comes to the back wincing in agony. After a few seconds it was obvious the burning in his shoulder was excruciating. "Why did you go an hour instead of going home early?" I asked.
Bryan, while clutching his shoulder and trying to maintain his composure through the pain, said: "You reach a point where you either say I can do this or I can't and I worked through it. Anyway, otherwise I would have had to go over in two falls and that would have killed Cabana in his hometown."
I'm just thankful I get to see Bryan Danielson perform one last time this weekend. I'm overjoyed I get to book a finale with this very special talent that has been with me since the start. You better believe I'll be in the crowd watching his match. This is The End.
