We have compiled all of the Daniel Bryan matches that have been rated highly by Dave Meltzer. The goal is to provide our readers with some of the best matches of his career. Not only will this be from his time in WWE but also on the Independent scene. We have used Wrestling Observer ratings as our guideline. A reminder as always that if a match is rated higher for you, that is okay. Note: For anyone confused, he wrestled as Bryan Danielson for a large chunk of his career.
The Best Daniel Bryan Matches According To Dave Meltzer
Honorable mentions (matches have received 4.25 stars)
- Bryan Danielson vs Roderick Strong – ROH Supercard Of Honor (2006)
- Samoa Joe vs Bryan Danielson – ROH Fight Of The Century (2006)
- Bryan Danielson vs Homicide – ROH Final Battle (2006)
- Bryan Danielson vs Takeshi Morishima – ROH Man Up (2007)
- Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson vs Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs – ROH Respect Is Earned II (2008)
- Daniel Bryan vs CM Punk – WWE Money In The Bank (2012)
- Daniel Bryan vs Seth Rollins – Monday Night RAW (June 10th, 2013)
- Triple H vs Daniel Bryan – Wrestlemania 30 (2014)
- Daniel Bryan vs Bad News Barrett vs Dean Ambrose vs Dolph Ziggler vs Luke Harper vs R-Truth vs Stardust – Wrestlemania 31 (2015)
- Mustafa Ali vs Daniel Bryan vs Kevin Owens – WWE Fastlane 2019,
- Daniel Bryan vs Adam Cole – WWE Smackdown (November 1st, 2019)
- Jey Uso vs Daniel Bryan – WWE Smackdown (November 20th, 2020)
- Daniel Bryan vs Cesaro vs Jey Uso vs Kevin Owens vs King Corbin vs Sami Zayn – WWE Elimination Chamber (2021)
- Bryan Danielson vs Dustin Rhodes – AEW Dynamite (October 23rd, 2021).
The following matches have received 4.5 stars:
Bryan Danielson vs Low Ki vs Christopher Daniels
Event – ROH The Era Of Honor Begins (2002) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Bryan, Daniels and Low Ki faced off in the main event of ROH’s The Era of Honor Begins event back in 2002. This was only a few years into the wrestling career of Bryan and was a fun glimpse into what he could do.
Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness
Event – ROH Domination (2007) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Daniel Bryan and Nigel McGuinness have put on many memorable matches in their careers. If you are a wrestling fan who isn’t familiar with Nigel outside of his commentary work, do yourself a favor and check some of his matches from the mid-2000’s with Bryan. There will be a few on this list.
One of these matches happened at ROH’s Domination event back in 2007. Meltzer liked it enough to give it 4.5 stars.
Bryan Danielson vs Tyler Black
Event – ROH New Horizons (2008) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Before Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins were megastars in WWE, they had some great matches in Ring of Honor. This included at the 2008 ROH New Horizons event. Bryan would go on to win the match after about 25 minutes.
Worth checking out if you are a fan of both of their WWE careers.
Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness – ROH World Heavyweight Title
Event – ROH Rising Above (2008) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Another highly regarded match between Bryan and Nigel took place at ROH’s Rising Above event in 2008. Nigel would win the match after over 28 minutes of solid wrestling.
Daniel Bryan vs CM Punk – WWE Championship
Event – WWE Over The Limit (2012) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Daniel Bryan faced off against CM Punk at WWE’s Over the Limit event back in 2012. This was for the WWE Championship. These two faced off several times prior to this on the independent scene but this was the biggest stage by far.
Both guys ended up delivering a match that lived up to expectations.
Daniel Bryan, Kane and Ryback vs Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose
Event – WWE TLC (2012) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Daniel Bryan was involved in the Shield’s in-ring debut. He teamed with Kane and Ryback to take on Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose. Bryan and his team did a great job putting over the Shield and the match was very well done.
Considering the success that all of the Shield members have had, this match helped them launch into the stratosphere.
Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton vs CM Punk vs Christian vs Rob Van Dam vs Sheamus
Event – WWE Money In The Bank (2013) | Rating: 4.5 stars
This was a Money in the Bank ladder match for a WWE Championship contract. There was a lot of star power in the match and it ended up being
Randy Orton would end up climbing the ladder to win the briefcase.
Daniel Bryan vs John Cena – WWE Championship
Event – WWE Summerslam (2013) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Daniel Bryan faced off against John Cena at Summerslam with Triple H as the special guest referee. Bryan would win the WWE Championship before getting screwed over by Triple H. This allowed Randy Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank contract and take the Title away from Bryan.
Great storytelling and a solid match.
Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton vs Batista – WWE World Heavyweight Championshi
Event – WWE Wrestlemania 30 (2014) | Rating: 4.5 stars
If you are a Daniel Bryan fan, it doesn’t get any better than the main event of Wrestlemania 30. Bryan overcame the odds against Randy Orton and Batista to win the Title in the main event of Wrestlemania.
An awesome match.
Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns
Event – WWE Fastlane (2015) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns faced off at the 2015 edition of Fastlane. The winner would earn a shot at Brock Lesnar and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
If you are not a fan of Reigns, you probably hated how this match ended. Still, it was a pretty enjoyable match.
Daniel Bryan vs Brock Lesnar
Event – WWE Survivor Series (2018) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar faced off in a Champion vs Champion match at Survivor Series in 2018. This came after Bryan won the WWE Championship from AJ Styles only a few days prior.
Bryan and Lesnar ended up putting on a great match. Bryan was dominated at first but battled back to make things competitive. He was ultimately defeated by Lesnar with an F5.
Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton vs Jeff Hardy – WWE Championship
Event – WWE Elimination Chamber (2019) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Daniel Bryan put his WWE Championship on the line in an Elimination Chamber match.
The final two came down to Kofi and Daniel. After a fun back-and-forth, Bryan was able to retain his Title.
Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan
Event: WWE Wrestlemania 35 (April 7, 2019) | Rating: 4.5 Stars
Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan faced off for the WWE Championship. This was an emotional match that told a great story.
Kofi ended up winning the WWE Title in an emotional moment.
Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns
Event – WWE Fastlane (2021) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns faced off at the 2021 Fastlane PPV. This was for the Universal Championship.
Edge served as the special guest enforcer for the match.
Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns vs Edge
Event: Wrestlemania 37 (2021) | Rating: 4.5 stars
The main event of Wrestlemania 37 night 2 was for the Universal Championship. It was Roman Reigns vs Edge vs Daniel Bryan.
Roman Reigns vs Daniel Bryan
Event: WWE Smackdown (April 30th, 2021) | Rating: 4.5 stars
The April 30th, 2021 episode of Smackdown featured a Universal Title match between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan. If Bryan lost the match, he was banished from Smackdown.
Bryan Danielson vs Miro
Event: AEW Full Gear (2021) | Rating: 4.5 stars
Bryan Danielson faced off against Miro at the 2021 Full Gear PPV. This was for a future AEW World Title match.
The following matches have received 4.75 stars
Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness – ROH World Heavyweight Title and ROH Pure Wrestling Title
Event – ROH Unified (2006) | Rating: 4.75 stars
Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness faced off in a Title unification match back in 2006. Bryan came in with the ROH World Title, while Nigel came in with the ROH Pure Wrestling belt.
The match was won by Bryan, who unified the belts in the process. This is the highest-rated match between Bryan and Nigel from Meltzer.
Bryan Danielson vs Kenta – ROH World Heavyweight Title
Event – ROH Glory By Honor V (2006) | Rating: 4.75 stars
For those who don’t know, Kenta is also known as WWE’s Hideo Itami. He and Daniel Bryan put on one heck of a match back in 2006 for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship.
If you are a fan of Itami and have never seen this match, it is highly recommended.
Bryan Danielson vs Takeshi Morishima – ROH World Heavyweight Title
Event – ROH Manhattan Mayhem II (2007) | Rating: 4.75 stars
Bryan Danielson challenged Takeshi Morishima for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship at ROH’s Manhattan Mayhem event. Takeshi defeated Bryan to retain the Title after about 20 minutes.
This won the award for the best match of 2007 in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (voted on by fans).
Bryan Danielson vs Naruki Doi
Event – Dragon Gate USA Untouchable (2009) | Rating: 4.75 stars
Another match that has received a lot of praise is Bryan vs Naruki Doi from Dragon Gate. This was actually one of Bryan’s last matches on the independent scene before joining WWE in 2009.
Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles
Event – WWE TLC (2018) | Rating: 4.75 stars
Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles faced off for the WWE Championship at TLC in 2018.
This was a really good wrestling match. Bryan picked up the win to retain the Title.
Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles
Event: WWE Smackdown (June 12th, 2020) | Rating: 4.75 Stars
Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles faced off in the finals of the Intercontinental Championship tournament. This came on the June 12th, 2020 edition of Smackdown.
Despite having several commercial breaks, this turned out to be a fantastic match. Styles ended up winning the match to become the new Intercontinental Champion.
Bryan Danielson vs Minoru Suzuki
Event: AEW Rampage (October 15th, 2021) | Rating: 4.75 Stars
The October 15th, 2021 episode of AEW Rampage featured a match between Bryan Danielson and Minoru Suzuki.
Bryan Danielson vs Eddie Kingston
Event: AEW Rampage (October 29th)| Rating: 4.75 Stars
Bryan Danielson and Eddie Kingston faced off on the October 29th, 2021 episode of Rampage.
Bryan Danielson vs Kenny Omega
Event: AEW Dynamite (September 22nd, 2021) | Rating: 5.00
Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega faced off on the September 22nd, 2021 episode of AEW Dynamite.
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What is your favorite on the list of best Daniel Bryan matches? Is there anything you would add? Should a match be rated higher in your opinion?
