Happy Birthday! Daniel Bryan Turns 35 Today!

To say it's been an emotional year for Daniel Bryan is quite the understatement.

At the age of 34, he stepped away from the ring due to lingering medical conditions, but had one of the most emotional and stirring speeches the WWE Universe had ever seen.

An almost two-decade veteran of the sport, Daniel Bryan, real name Bryan Danielson, had been wrestling since he was 18 years-old. He is seen as a founding father of the Ring of Honor Wrestling promotion and has wrestled across the globe under his real name as well as under the "American Dragon".

Signed to the WWE in 2009, there was a moment where we thought his WWE career would be cut short after he was fired after an incident involving him fake choking Justin Roberts with his own neck tie. WWE would later apologize to Bryan, citing they had "sponsors to deal with." He would return in August of 2010 to quickly capture the United States title. Within a year, the World Heavyweight Championship. Bryan would later become a Triple Crown and Grand Slam Champion with seven overall championship reigns in the WWE. In addition to that, he won 12 Slammy Awards to add to his trophy rack.

Bryan's retirement came to a shock, but after almost a year of not being medically cleared to wrestle, he admitted his fate, but accepted his retirement on his terms. WWE has offered him non-wrestling roles, but Bryan has kept low since his retirement in February.

As a wrestler, Daniel Bryan personified the YES movement and overcame WWE ideas of what a WWE World Champion could be, much less what a Superstar is supposed to be. At one point, Bryan was arguably the most over Superstar on the roster, to the point where his chants were interrupting WWE programming. You can even see longtime friend CM Punk begin to smile.

The YES chants still remains today, leaving the kind of impression that only a select few have left before him. So while Daniel Bryan may not be able to entertain us with his wrestling prowess, we'll always have these moments in time to look back on and remember when the ultimate underdog ruled the wrestling world.