Bryan Danielson is set to be a Hall of Famer. Ring of Honor has announced that former ROH World Champion and current AEW star Bryan Danielson will be inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame.
“The American Dragon” played a major role in establishing ROH as the Best Wrestling on the Planet, beginning with his performance in the main event on ROH’s debut show, The Era of Honor Begins, in 2002.
Whenever “The Final Countdown” blared throughout the building as Danielson made his entrance to the ring, fans knew they were about to witness a true master of his craft at work. A superior technician, striker and submission specialist, Danielson cemented his status as the best wrestler in the sport when he won the ROH World Title in 2005. His 462-day reign as ROH World Champion is the third-longest, and he made a record 38 successful title defenses.
Danielson made history in 2006 when he defeated arch rival and ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness in Liverpool, England to merge the titles. He also won the inaugural Survival of the Fittest in 2004 and main-evented ROH’s first pay-per-view in 2007. Danielson had many impressive victories in ROH, but one of his most memorable performances came in defeat. Just over four minutes into his match against then-ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima in 2007, Danielson suffered a detached retina as a result of the Japanese powerhouse’s clubbing blows. Morishima targeted Danielson’s injured left eye throughout the match, but Danielson showed incredible toughness and heart and came within a fraction of a second of winning before Morishima ultimately prevailed after more than 20 dramatic minutes.
After leaving ROH in 2009, Danielson would gain world-wide fame in WWE, where he main-evented WrestleMania in 2014 before more than 75,000 fans at the Superdome in New Orleans. Danielson is currently one of the top stars in AEW.
Danielson joins the Briscoes in the inaugural ROH Hall of Fame class. More inductees will be announced in the coming weeks. A career retrospective on Danielson will be featured on this weekend’s episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling television, and a YouTube special on Danielson drops Monday, Feb. 14 at 9 a.m. ET on ROH’s YouTube channel.
A special Hall of Fame episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling featuring all of the inductees airs on TV the weekend of March 5.
Danielson competed in Ring of Honor from 2002-2009 and won the company’s World and Pure Championships.