Whilst far from being a definitive look at Daniel Bryan's career (WWE or otherwise) there's still much to enjoy here - a 66 minute documentary, 18 matches, a few other moments and a few extra stories from the man himself.
The doc is a behind the scenes diary of sorts with Bryan during the week leading into Wrestlemania 30 where he of course headlined the show. There's some interesting glimpses behind the WWE curtain alongside a whistle-stop tour of Bryan's career up to this point. There's footage from "the indies" including Ring of Honor as well as contributions from key figures such as Brie Bella, Cena, Rollins, HBK, Miz, Patterson etc etc. As you can see from the length, it's not a CM Punk style, in depth, all bases covered doc but it's fun while it lasts. I tried to ignore the fact that it seems to be presenting wrestling as a legitimate sport - I think that ship has sailed boys.
To supplement the doc, the extra stories (Blu Ray exclusive) add some value and the real bonus is the intros to the selected matches. They've spliced up a sit down interview with Bryan and inserted these along the way. These comments are frequently honest, candid, interesting and amusing, offering a better insight into this guys thoughts and feelings about various aspects of his career.
The matches are a mixed bag of short curiosity pieces and longer, belting scraps. I've listed them below with a few thoughts for those that are interested in such things. On a side note - I can't remember the subject of one of these dvds/Blu Rays losing so many matches on their own set. Just a thought.
08/02/00 - American Dragon & Shooter Schultz v Brian Kendrick & Lance Cade - Fascinating look at an early WWF tryout match. It's pretty raw footage of a pretty raw match but that kind of adds to the charm.
18/01/03 - Jamie Noble v Brian Danielson - Good, solid, competitive match from the Velocity "glory days".
23/02/10 - Daniel Bryan v Chris Jericho - Another relatively short but sturdy, painful looking scrap.
19/09/10 - The Miz v Daniel Bryan - US Title - This is good stuff that hooks in an initially quiet crowd. A proper match with Bryan looking like a proper player.
18/12/11 - The Big Show v Daniel Bryan - World Heavyweight Title - Not a match as such but Bryan's Money in the Bank cash in after Shows just won the strap from Mark Henry.
06/01/12 - Daniel Bryan v The Big Show - World Heavyweight Title - A screwy (but admittedly funny) finish cuts short what was building into a fun little man v BIG man encounter.
29/04/12 - Sheamus v Daniel Bryan - World Heavyweight Title - 2 out of 3 falls - So after the 18 seconds debacle at Wrestlemania 28 we now get a proper match with these two. It's a fine piece of work which really wouldn't have looked out of place on The Grandest Stage.
15/07/12 - CM Punk v Daniel Bryan - WWE Title - No DQ - This has AJ Lee as a special guest referee and the feud really became largely about her. Not sure the feud or the match really needed her but these two cook up something pretty sweet anyway. Shame the title they're fighting for barely rates a mention.
16/09/12 - Kofi Kingston & R-Truth v Daniel Bryan & Kane - Tag Titles - All about the Team Hell No storyline which is ridiculous but brilliant and this match sums it up perfectly.
22/07/13 - Daniel Bryan v Jack Swagger, Antonio Cesaro, Ryback - Gauntlet Match - An epic effort from Bryan here, with the Cesaro section being predictably the longest and best part of this one. The endings a bit naff mind.
18/08/13 - John Cena v Daniel Bryan - WWE Title - This is the one with Triple H as guest referee. A cracking back and forth contest with a genuine, electric, big match feel and atmosphere despite the fact it didn't translate into PPV buys (as Bryan himself, amusingly points out here). And then there's the post match carnage.....
17/03/14 - Daniel Bryan v Randy Orton - No DQ - Solid, intense TV stuff with the No DQ rules adding a little spice.
06/04/14 - Randy Orton v Batista v Daniel Bryan - WWE Title - So this is what this set is really building to and its a cracker. Bryan's already knocked up a top match with Triple H earlier in the night and follows it up with this epic effort. As WWE are so fond of telling us - this is a Wrestlemania moment baby.
29/12/14 - Daniel Bryan's Big Announcement - An emotional return to the big time. Bittersweet though as we now know it won't last that long.
22/02/15 - Daniel Bryan v Roman Reigns - The dvd version ends here and it's a shame to go out this way - not a bad match at all, in fact it's pretty good but not the result and direction many were hoping for.
The rest are Blu Ray exclusive........
08/02/03 - John Cena v Brian Danielson - Curiosity value only really, not much of a match. Amusing though to see them use some material they'd later use in the Summerslam main event so many years later.
13/04/10 - Daniel Bryan v William Regal - Not much to see here either. Always fun to see Regal and his unique style but this is annoyingly short.
06/12/10 - Daniel Bryan & Brie Bella v Ted DiBiase & Maryse - Another short one, mainly about the storylines on both sides of the ring.
08/12 - Daniel Bryan & Kane attend anger management - Perhaps against the odds, this stuff proved to be pretty funny. There's a good 20 minutes of it here including the Hug it Out segment.
13/01/14 - The Usos v Bray Wyatt & Daniel Bryan - Relatively flat cage scrap - this ones more about the inevitable happenings after the match.
And that's your lot. Enjoy.
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