Bryan Danielson’s WWE career spanned over twelve years and saw him accomplish pretty much everything. He won several singles and tag titles, main-evented WrestleMania, had some of the loudest fan reactions in years, and developed a fan following so strong and unrelenting that he forced the company to change its booking plans.
But none of those things stand out as Bryan’s favorite WWE moment. Instead, he credits his involvement with another wrestler’s main-event ascent as the thing he’s most proud of.
In 2019, Bryan wrestled with a villainous overly-aggressive environmentalist who wore a title belt made out of environmentally-friendly materials. It was also during this time that Kofi Kingston’s sudden and organic rise to the top as in full swing.
Kingston’s push to the world title scene was never planned, but fan support and other circumstances catapulted him into that spot all the same. Bryan, who experienced the same thing five years earlier, was more than happy to play a part in Kofi’s ascent.
“The whole thing was magic” – Bryan Danielson on Kofi Kingston and ‘Kofi-Mania’
In fact, in an interview with The Ringer, Bryan explained that this, more than anything else, is what he’s most proud of during his twelve-year WWE career.
“To me, the whole thing was magic. And you look at the live events, like the number of shows that he did for WWE, the amount of TV time that he filled in every time, going out there and always having a positive attitude and all that kind of stuff. What a great human being, you know what I mean? Like I said, it was my favorite match. I think the whole thing was my favorite part of my WWE career.”
At the same time, Bryan bemoaned how poorly Kofi’s WWE title run ended. After being champion for six months and defending the title numerous times, Kofi lost it to Brock Lesnar in less than ten seconds after Lesnar hit just one F-5 to win.