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    Beyond The Mat: The Lives and Legacies of WWE Legends Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan
    Beyond The Mat: The Lives and Legacies of WWE Legends Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan
    Beyond The Mat: The Lives and Legacies of WWE Legends Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan
    Ebook124 pages2 hours

    Beyond The Mat: The Lives and Legacies of WWE Legends Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan

    By Ian Fineman

    5/5

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    About this ebook

    For the first time, go behind the scenes of World Wrestling Entertainment in this groundbreaking and unauthorized series of bestselling WWE superstar profiles of Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan.

    Inside the riveting pages ahead, fans will gain unprecedented insight into the lives, careers, and dramatic never-before-told happenings that continue to define the lives and legacies of three of the most celebrated and controversial superstars in WWE history.

    "Beyond the Mat: The Lives and Legacies of WWE Legends Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan" is a bundled collection featuring the following bestselling previously released works:

    -- Why The WWE Universe Loves AND Hates John Cena (an unauthorized biography) by Michael Essany

    -- Shawn Michaels: One More Match? The WWE Show Stopper... Hasn't Stopped Yet by Michael Essany

    -- Cut Short: The Unauthorized True Story of Daniel Bryan by Vince Russell.

    “Beyond the Mat: The Lives and Legacies of WWE Legends Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan” is a completely unauthorized publication NOT affiliated with or endorsed by WWE. This book is also not associated with the "Beyond the Mat" movie of the same name.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSports Entertainment Publishing
    Release dateDec 13, 2015
    ISBN9781310449192
    Beyond The Mat: The Lives and Legacies of WWE Legends Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan

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      Book preview

      Beyond The Mat - Ian Fineman

      Beyond The Mat

      The Lives and Legacies of WWE Legends Shawn Michaels, Daniel Bryan, and John Cena

      By Ian Fineman

      Disclaimer

      Published by Sports Entertainment Publishing

      Copyright 2015 Sports Entertainment Publishing

      All Rights Reserved worldwide. May not be copied or distributed without prior written permission from Sports Entertainment Publishing.

      This eBook is not an official WWE publication nor is it associated, affiliated, or otherwise endorsed by Shawn Michaels, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, or World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

      To visit WWE.com, click here.

      All information contained in this eBook has been obtained by exclusive interviews, online research, and information freely available in the public domain.

      This eBook provides information that you read and use at your own risk.

      Cover images are freely available for commercial use on FLICKR by:

      Will Beardmore (Shawn Michaels photo) usage rights information available here.

      Miguel Discart (John Cena photo) usage rights information available here.

      Krystal Bogner (Daniel Bryan photo) usage rights information available here.

      Cut Short: The Unauthorized True Story of Daniel Bryan

      Published by Vince Russell November 16, 2015

      Part 1: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

      It’s over. Not officially, of course. And perhaps not even in the mind of Daniel Bryan. But it is definitely over. Daniel Bryan’s career, plagued repeated serious injuries, now threatens his very livelihood should he continue with it.

      No, WWE won’t say Daniel Bryan’s career is over. Neither will Daniel. And not even every doctor treating the beloved bearded grappler will admit it. But the unspoken and widely understood truth inside of World Wrestling Entertainment is that, not counting perhaps the occasional one-off match or in-ring appearance, Daniel Bryan’s career as a full-time top-of-the-card performer is likely over.

      But perhaps what is even sadder than the curtailed career of one of the most gifted and, without question, one of the most popular performers in WWE in recent years is the fact that many executives within the Stamford, Connecticut-based company simply don’t give a shit.

      The storyline playing out week after week on television about Daniel being too small and not a main-eventer grew out of backstage chatter, one source close to WWE admits. Vince hated how the fans put him [Daniel Bryan] over. I mean, he hated it. The only guy who hated it more was Paul.

      Those who have worked with and for the multi-time WWE Champion say Paul Levesque – or Triple H as he’s known to the WWE Universe – is the smartest and most cunning mind in the history of professional wrestling.

      Always one step ahead of his friends and two steps ahead of his enemies, Paul Levesque has long aspired to be more than just one of the greatest in-ring performers of his generation. The Game, as he’s universally recognized, wanted to become a larger than life titan of the industry he dominated as a performer for two decades. So it goes without saying that Paul doesn’t like to be wrong much. And he hates to be wrong in front of his father-in-law.

      But when it comes to Daniel Bryan, Paul was wrong – very wrong.

      According to behind-the-scenes sources, Paul was legitimately against the idea of giving Daniel Bryan the push he ultimately received. But with Vince determined to let fans dictate – at least some of the time -- who makes it to the top, there was no choice but to give the WWE Universe the Cinderella Story they craved. And so, against all odds – contrived and real-life – Daniel Bryan became the big man on campus, capturing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 30.

      But his fall would be much faster than his rise. And his injuries would not be the only culprits. Indeed, Daniel would fall victim to his naiveté, his own foolish optimism, and his lingering faith in the loyalty of a company that has a shoddy record of rewarding loyalty.

      Part 2: The Making of Daniel Bryan

      Except for CM Punk, Daniel Bryan - the ring name of Bryan Danielson - is the only man to have won the WWE Championship, the World Heavyweight Championship, and the ROH World Championship.

      Wrestling under the name American Dragon, Bryan is one of the most prolific and famous of WWE’s signed wrestlers, but he has also wrestled in Japan, winning several championships overseas, making him one of WWE’s only international super stars.

      Born May 22, 1981 in Aberdeen, Washington, it wasn’t until after high school that the 5-foot-8 wrestling wunderkind decided to pursue professional wrestling as a career.

      He made his start at Dean Malenko’s wrestling school. It was closed soon after he joined, however. It’s a reality that compelled Bryan to up and move and joint the Texas Wrestling Academy to train under Shawn Michaels and Rudy Gonzalez.

      On March 21st, 2000, he burst on the professional wrestling scene, starting in the Texas Wrestling Alliance (TWA), where he won his first championship by being paired with Spanky for the TWA Tag Team Championship. Their team beat Jeremy Sage and Ruben Cruz.

      From there, the rising star with undeniable talent began to tour the country, and soon joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he was signed on to train and refine his moves before he was allowed to appear on their programming.

      In the WWF, he was chosen to be a member of the Memphis Championship Wrestling program, to be trained by William Regal. Regal, Bryan says, was profoundly influential on his career. During his time with Regal, Bryan adopted his ring name and honed his skills. When WWF cut MCW out of its program, Bryan was left without a contract. He did however, win the MCW Light Heavyweight Championship and the MCW Tag Team Championship (again, with Spanky), before he left the program. When WWF was renamed WWE and they began a new bout of programming, Bryan returned and was allowed to wrestle in the background before finally being featured in his own fights. He even fought John Cena before either Bryan or Cena had made a name for themselves (Cena emerged victorious, Bryan lost).

      It was at this same time that Bryan began touring Japan, honing his craft further and wrestling with Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) with Lance Cade, who was with Bryan at the Texas Wrestling Academy. They wrestled in many tag team matches before Bryan was released from WWF. When he was released from WWF, he returned to Japan, wrestling in the New Japan Pro Wrestling circuit. This was the true development of his American Dragon ring name and persona, as he, like a luchadore, often wore a colorful, dragon-like mask during matches. In this program, he found success, both in singles and tag team competition. He continued fighting in Japan until he won the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in 2004. He returned to the United States after this win.

      Ring of Honor: The Early Years

      Bryan is lauded as one of the original members of Ring of Honor, as he joined the promotion just as it was beginning (he competed in the company’s first program, The Era of Honor Begins), and he was one of the first to bring it notoriety to match that of WWE. As he progressed with Ring of Honor, he saw many long matches. His longest match was against Austin Aries, which was eight minutes long. Both wrestling critics and fans alike appreciated his style and he was a fan favorite from the beginning. It was also around this time, in 2002, that he began his first rivalry with Homicide. They wrestled against one another many times, and the struggle finally came to the end at The Final Showdown, which Bryan won.

      Though he won Ring of Honor’s first Survival of the Fittest tournament, he did not yet have a ROH Championship to his name. By 2005, he was so frustrated with not being able to beet Austin Aries for the ROH World Championship that he announced in the ROH newsletter that he wanted to quit. While these at first seemed to be just a dissatisfaction with ROH, it turned out to be a dissatisfaction with wrestling as a career choice. He wanted some time outside the ring to decide if this was really the right path for him. He did take this time, even though he had several fights already booked. Many fans believed that the letter was planted in the newsletter as part of his storyline. Though he tried out for the WWE while he was away from ROH, he ultimately decided to stay with his promotion, at least for the time being.

      World Championship: Ring of Honor

      In September of 2005, Bryan finally defeated James Gibson and became the ROH World Champion. 2005

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