Behind
the curtains: It's tough to put down in words how much of a fan I am of both the Daniel Bryan and Bryan Danielson characters, both played by a performer whose career I have closely followed for years
before he was introduced to the WWE Universe. By now you must be scratching
your head and wondering "Wait, what? Aren't they the same person?"
Allow me to explain.
My
earliest Bryan Danielson memory involved trying to figure out what in the world
his Cattle Mutilation hold was all about. It certainly wasn’t something I had encountered
in close to, then, 15 years of watching WWF and WCW and for the life of me I
wasn’t able to visualize the move. Bear in mind, this was probably a decade ago,
when dial up internet speeds in India were painstakingly slow, YouTube didn’t
exist and hardcore fans like me scoured the internet reading up on everything
wrestling related even though it never made it to Indian television sets. A few
names from Ring of Honor (RoH) caught my attention way back then - Nigel
McGuineses, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson were wrestlers that I regularly
read up on little knowing how impressed I would be by all of them in the years
to come. Over the years I have managed to watch several of Bryan Danielson's amazing
RoH matches including extraordinary battles with Nigel McGuiness, Takeshi
Morishima and many other RoH superstars. I loved his fluidity in the ring, the
ease with which he hurt his opponents and the fact that he came out to the
Final Countdown. After having established himself as one of the all-time
greatest wrestlers on the independent scene, surely the American Dragon had
everything to be destined for eventual superstardom in the WWE, right? Little
did we all know of the journey that Daniel Bryan (his newly christened WWE
character) would eventually take us on, which brings me to this book review.
Overview:
The book contains several fascinating stories of Daniel’s early years including
ones on how he got hooked onto wrestling, eventually signing up for Shawn
Michaels Wrestling Academy where he would meet and befriend Brian Kendrick
(yes, THE Brian Kendrick), his first tour of Japan with Frontier Martial Arts
Wrestling (FMW) and his introduction to the mat genius William Regal who I believe
is one of the most underrated wrestlers of his generation. Daniel’s intensity,
willingness to learn, hard work and eventual success took him around the world
to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) including the iconic Tokyo Dome, wrestling
shows across England and the United States and to the top of RoH where he
became the champion. After years of wrestling and being a trainer on the
indies, Daniel signed up with WWE and became part of NXT which is where a lot
of Indian fans first got introduced to him. The second half of the book covers
his WWE career including his very short stint as part of the Nexus (thanks to
the Justin Roberts tie incident and him spitting on Cena, in character), his
silly storyline with the Bellas vying for his attention (ironically it’s what
brought him and Brie together), the MITB victory and cashing in on the Big
Show. The over the top Yes-sing on the way to the ring after becoming champ and
the agonizing 18 second Wrestlemania loss to Sheamus are given due importance
as well. It’s wonderful to read about the dynamic between him and Glenn Jacobs
(Kane to us fans) as they became one of the WWEs most popular tag teams of all
time and more importantly helped keep Bryan in the spotlight until he was again
pushed to the title match with Cena at SummerSlam. The rest of the Daniel Bryan
story is very well known to Indian fans as the Yes Movement became too loud for
the WWE to ignore and Bryan ascended to the top of the ladder in one of
wrestling’s greatest feel good moments.
The
Tone: Each of the 27 chapters in the book stick to a unique formula with co-author
Craig Tello providing a brief outsider’s perspective of Daniel Bryan & Brie
Bella’s world over the week preceding Wrestlemania XXX which is followed by
Daniel’s narration of the events that unfolded in his life in chronological
order. This isn’t an intense book, nor is it anywhere close to being as
detailed as many of the other best-selling autobiographies by wrestling
legends. Even though it clocks in at just over 300 pages in length, the large
font does ensure that it isn’t a lengthy read.
What
I liked: The book stays true to the character of Daniel Bryan that we all know
and love. He doesn’t have an inflated ego and except for one story doesn’t
really bad mouth any wrestler. He talks about how his relationship with Bri
evolved including one hilarious story that involves Sheamus and Ted DiBiase Jr.
He is brutally honest about when he wasn’t a good draw despite being at the top
of PPVs, matches that he got wrong and how he worked through injuries without
taking care of his own health. The epilogue was a great way to end the book.
What
is missing: While Bryan takes us behind the scenes, I only wish the book had
more masala and offered more insights into so many of the colourful characters
that make up the wrestling world. Unlike other wrestling books, this doesn’t
have a bunch of pages in the middle with photos but instead the images are
spread out across the book.
Overall:
This isn’t the best wrestling book that I have read but it was entertaining
nonetheless. It is rare that we encounter such wonderful real life stories and while
the book isn’t as hard hitting as his famous kicks, it will leave you satisfied
for sure.
Rating:
4 Flying Knees out of 5.
