Daniel Bryan

With 10 years on the indie wrestling circuit, Daniel Bryan came to season one of WWE NXT as by far the most experienced NXT Rookie. Trained by none other than Shawn Michaels, he proceeded to compete on multiple continents while honing his craft. His journeys served the young competitor well, as he became well-known for his hybrid of Japanese and American offensive styles. He made good use of vicious elbow strikes, precision kicks, spine-jarring suplexes and various torturous submission maneuvers. Bryan has even competed in front of 50,000 fans in Tokyo!
Despite the wealth of knowledge and variety of styles at his disposal, Daniel Bryan proved instrumental in eliminating himself from WWE NXT. It was a mistake that he aggressively attempted to rectify over the next several weeks, even going so far as to participate in a Monday Night Raw assault by the season one NXT Rookies, who ultimately made a new name for themselves as The Nexus.
Remarkably, Daniel Bryan expressed sincere remorse for the attack, an emotion that didn't sit well within The Nexus. The band of outlaws cast him out, and the WWE Universe heard no more from Daniel Bryan - until SummerSlam, when he replaced his former mentor and WWE Pro, The Miz, as the seventh member of Team WWE's match against The Nexus. He made the most of his return, and was pivotal in helping John Cena and Team WWE triumph over the renegades at The Biggest Event of the Summer.
Daniel Bryan successfully challenged his former WWE Pro, The Miz, at Night of Champions, to capture the United States Championship.