ROUND ONE: Daniel Bryan (4) vs. Sting (5)

[Everlong]

The Ultimate Wrestler Tournament
ROUND ONE: Daniel Bryan (4) vs. Sting (5)

A definite clash of eras between these two; Daniel Bryan, whose star is only just beginning to achieve its brightest shine, and Sting, who is on his way out of the business. Which one advances?



From his days as the American Dragon in RoH to his present occupation as the leader of the "YES!" Movement, Daniel Bryan has long been known as perhaps the world's finest technical wrestler and a talent for the ages. His WWE career may only just be starting to take off, but on an international level this is a guy who's been renowned for the past decade for his incredible range of talents.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

*WWE Championship (x2)
*World Heavyweight Championship (x1)
*ROH World Championship (x1)
*ROH Pure Championship (x1)
*WWE Tag Team Championship (x1)
*WWE United States Championship (x1)
*Money in the Bank Winner (2011)

NOTABLE MATCH



NOTABLE SEGMENT





Sting has gone through a variety of character shifts in his career, but his aura, mic skills and ring work have all combined to make him one of the true legends of WCW and the business as a whole, and quite possibly the greatest former WCW talent never to appear in WWE. His reincarnation as the "crow" character in the mid-90s took his stardom to new heights as he feuded against Hulk Hogan and the NWO.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

*WCW World Heavyweight Championship (x6)
*WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (x2)
*NWA World Heavyweight Championship (x1)
*TNA World Heavyweight Championship (x4)
*WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (x2)
*WCW World Tag Team Championship (x3)
*WCW Triple Crown Champion
*Iron Man Tournament Winner (1989)
*European Cup Winner (1994, 2000)
*King of Cable Tournament Winner (1992)
*TNA World Tag Team Championship (x1)
*TNA Hall of Fame (Class of 2012)
*5 Star Match (w/ Brian Pillman and the Steiners vs. Ric Flair, Larry Zbyszko, Barry Windham and Sid Vicious, Wargames match, 1991) from The Wrestling Observer
*5 Star Match (w/ Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson, Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Bobby Eaton & Larry Zbyszko, Wargames match, 1992) from The Wrestling Observer

NOTABLE MATCH



PART TWO


VOTE NOW!

[VaderBomb]

Both of these men have had two of the greatest careers of any pro wrestler, but you put the two of these men side by side as performers and it's quite easy to choose. I mean, just take into account the support he has from the masses and then watch this:



As if Jack Brisco, William Regal, Mitsuharu Misawa and Shawn Michaels had a mutant baby of technical brilliance, toughness, discipline and pure energy, the man is truly unmatched in American wrestling. Bryan's 462 day reign as ROH World champion with 38 successful defenses is easily my favorite championship reign ever and most of those defenses are among the very best matches I've ever witnessed.

Sting on the other hand is still one of the best, everybody knows that. I love his early work and feuds against guys like Flair and Muta, and his stuff during the nWo period is iconic. But he's still no Dragon.

[Everlong]

I'm always reluctant to vote for contemporary figures in "best ever" tournaments, but I'm willing to break my usual custom here for Mr. Danielson.

The guy truly is the best in the world in the ring, and I don't think that there's a whole lot that could be done to argue that. That alone puts him in excellent position to win this matchup, as I don't think you could ever qualify Sting as the "best in the world" at anything.

Sting has been a part of far more iconic moments. Of course, he's had a significantly longer career but he was one of the biggest stars of the 90s right in the thick of WCW's best years. His reinvention as the Crow character really resurrected his career and those battles against the NWO are legendary.

Sting could also take better mic skills here, although I think Bryan is rather underrated in that regard (and he's improved immensely since his WWE debut).

Overall though based on their combination of skillsets I'll have to go with Bryan, conceding the fact that Sting at this point is a bigger icon but Bryan is likely to knock down some doors over the next few years if all goes according to plan.

[Str8Shooter]

As if Bryan is winning 7 -2 right now, that's fucking disgusting. And I like Bryan.

[Everlong]

As if Bryan is winning 7 -2 right now, that's fucking disgusting. And I like Bryan.

Well what's your argument?

[Str8Shooter]

As if Bryan is winning 7 -2 right now, that's fucking disgusting. And I like Bryan.

Well what's your argument?

I'll get to that later, I have to formulate some thoughts first.

This was just a teaser. I thought there was a good chance that Bryan would win, but come on! A blowout!!

[Everlong]

As if Bryan is winning 7 -2 right now, that's fucking disgusting. And I like Bryan.

Well what's your argument?

I'll get to that later, I have to formulate some thoughts first.

This was just a teaser. I thought there was a good chance that Bryan would win, but come on! A blowout!!

Yeah you have to remember though that the vote totals don't necessarily indicate that people think strongly one way or the other. It could just as easily be that there are a lot of people who think it's a tough call but give the slight edge to Bryan.

[Str8Shooter]

As if Bryan is winning 7 -2 right now, that's fucking disgusting. And I like Bryan.

Well what's your argument?

I'll get to that later, I have to formulate some thoughts first.

This was just a teaser. I thought there was a good chance that Bryan would win, but come on! A blowout!!

Yeah you have to remember though that the vote totals don't necessarily indicate that people think strongly one way or the other. It could just as easily be that there are a lot of people who think it's a tough call but give the slight edge to Bryan.

I guess I have a hard time picking people who are still arguably in the prime of their careers against guys who are retired and nearly retired. Daniel Bryan could very well be better than Sting all time in 5 years from now, but right now? I'm not so sure.

[Hanley!]

I guess I have a hard time picking people who are still arguably in the prime of their careers against guys who are retired and nearly retired. Daniel Bryan could very well be better than Sting all time in 5 years from now, but right now? I'm not so sure.

The thing is, as long as Sting's career has been, he hasn't done anything all that impressive in years. Daniel Bryan will soon reach the point in his career after which Sting just stopped impressing people. Which makes this a more even contest than it might appear on first glance.

This is a tough one for me - as is the Punk v Mysterio contest - because Sting & Mysterio were my favourite performers during my favourite period as a wrestling fan. Sting's main event run as the Crow and the build up to that match against Hogan was just so brilliantly booked and it was a tremendously exciting period. Bryan has never excited me that much.

But on the other hand, Sting has had many years now as a rather dull performer. Bryan's career has been nothing but impressive so far. Even when he's been booked badly (which has happened a frigging lot), he's still always been a joy to watch. Sting has not been.

So Sting's highlights have been higher, but Bryan has been more consistent. So I guess my vote here goes to the better all round performer. And I think it's perfectly reasonable to give that contest to Bryan. They're similar when it comes to promo abilities, but Bryan takes it for me in the ring. It feels biased to give a big win to someone who's having his big moment in wrestling right now. But it's also - in this case - the right move.

[ShaneOfan]

As much as I want to pick Bryan, Sting has accomplished more and has the more unique character and the dude owned it. I think Sting may take the edge on the mic. Not many people can say they are Bryan fans mainly because of his mic work, not it's his ring work that really wins him over. So if we are going strictly wrestling Bryan wins it. But as of today Saturday April 5th 2014 I am not sure Bryan has accomplished enough to push him over Sting. Bryan is my favorite wrestler right now and is one of the best ring workers in the world but that does not mean he is at the top tier of all time level yet.

[prophet]

I thought this was going to be harder because I'm a big fan of Sting but for me Daniel Bryan takes this rather convincingly in the end. As Bryan Danielson he became the best wrestler on the planet - an accolade he still holds today in my eyes. I'd like to point out Danielson also had a Match of the Year against Takeshi Morishima in 2007. Danielson has had so many phenomenal matches it's untrue and I'd go as far as saying he's had more great matches than anyone else in the business - vs Aries, vs Liger, vs Joe, vs Marafuji etc... I could literally go on and on. So from a wrestling stand-point he's the clear winner.

What really swayed my decision in the end though was the way he's transformed as a performer since debuting in the WWE. It hasn't always been easy for him and more often than not he's been booked horrendously yet Bryan gets on with the job, works hard and perseveres. He dropped the WHC in 18 seconds at Wrestlemania so the next night the crowd chanted for him all night and haven't stopped since. He was put into what I'm positive was intended to turn him into a comedy act when he teamed with Kane to form the hugging, anger-management attending Team Hell No (which he and Kane made the best part of the show, because they're both committed and talented). The amount of obstacles thrown in his path to slow him down has been ridiculous but Daniel Bryan overcame them all by working hard and getting on with it.

That in addition to his immense talent is what has made him the most beloved superstar since Austin and Rock. I loved Danielson the wrestler but as Daniel Bryan I've not been this invested in a performer in years. Yes Bryan is riding a wave on momentum at the moment as we're less than 24 hours before Wrestlemania but even if we weren't I'd still be voting for him. It's just coincidence that he seems destined to become world champion tomorrow night...

Although it won't seem like it after that I am a big fan of Sting and loved his work in WCW, particularly the way he managed to reinvent himself as The Crow. I was also a big fan of Sting back when I watched TNA regularly and he's an excellent performer and I'd agree that on the microphone Sting has the edge on Bryan though he's more experienced in that department so you'd expect him to edge that category. Everyone knows I'm one of the Sting to WWE advocates on this forum and I'll mark like crazy if he does show up but in this round I have to go with my favourite wrestler. YES! YES! YES!

[Str8Shooter]

One of the hardest matchups in Round 1 for sure. Even Nick didn't vote for his hero Sting, which shocked me. But I guess I'll be the one to stick up for the Stinger

Daniel Bryan right now is straight up, the man. He is the biggest and best thing on Raw week to week, his matches are superb with pretty much every opponent, and his promos have been solid if unspectacular. His "YES" catchphrase is the biggest one in years and he's gotten over more than anyone in years. Maybe more importantly than that, he's made it known and made it okay to be a smaller guy with great technical in ring skill, which hopefully will allow for more guys like that to be given the ball in due time.

Sting is a well deserving Legend in the business, his career has spanned decades and he's pretty much done it all (except for WWE... for now ). Of course people on here mainly remember him for the tremendous "Crow" character and the legendary feud with the nWo and Hollywood Hogan in 1997. You have to be a special character in the loud, often obnoxious world of pro wrestling to be able to have the crowd eating out of the palm of your hand without saying a word for over a year on TV. Sting let his actions do the talking, and managed to grip people and pull them in with simply a stare, an eye movement, or one point of a black baseball bat.

And that's not even including his career before the "Crow", the man was a huge star already, his surfer look and yell, and his mic work and ring work were still excellent, and he managed to have really good matches with guys like Flair, Rude, and Vader. He really helped carry WCW on his back before they got all the big stars and they were in a tough place in the early 90's when Flair left for the WWF, he stayed and helped right the ship.

Daniel Bryan will likely become one of the top stars ever by the time it's all said and done. But it's not said and done yet, and right now, I still think Sting is worthy of taking the spot and moving on. Maybe I'm just an old school guy, I'm one of the older members of the site and I've probably got a soft spot for the old days more than most, but I guess that's my prerogative. I respect people's decision to choose Daniel Bryan though, even if I think they might be getting swayed by what Bryan is doing right now being freshest in their mind

[Chewy]

Bryan because he has a beard.

[Viazon]

I've gotta go with Bryan. Sure, Sting is legendary and is one of the all time greats. But how far would he have gotten if it weren't for that character. The fact that Bryan has become the most over wrestler WWE have had for a long long time by basically just being himself is a huge credit to him. He is probably the best in the world at the minute. And despite what people said about him when he first came to the WWE, can handle himself on the mic. I get genuinely excited when I watch him wrestle which is something I don't say much about many WWE wrestlers these days. I gotta give this one to Bryan.

[Ace]

I already knew that this was most likely going to go to Daniel Bryan but my vote is personal. I always was in love with the scary, paranormal monster characters which is why I enjoyed watching guys like Undertaker, Kane & Mankind. Sting was not exception. The lights would black out & Sting would be there waiting to ef stuff up. He & the Undertaker had somewhat of a similar gimmick in the 90s. His WCW "Crow" was popular but even prior to that was awesome. He had a great partnerships with Lex Luger & Ultimate Warrior that landed him tag team titles. His career & those he beat/challenged extend far beyond the guys Daniel Bryan faces today.

However this was a hard one for me, trust me. I love seeing Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan and his "YES!" movement are the most over gimmick in the WWE since the days of Stone Cold & "WHAT?" Incredible in the ring & like guys like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan worked his ass off in the indy circuit & has finally made it to the top which is extremely admirable. Daniel Bryan is the whole deal & has proven so even though he's kinda small.

My vote goes to Sting though. Like I said I just loved Crow Sting.

[The Legend]

It's Sting by a country mile. Sting has had huge staying power and the ability to be great and make the work he does great for a very long time, I don't believe Daniel Bryan will have the same staying power. I've never gotten the deal with Bryan, don't like his in ring style, his promo ability, really anything. And I have a true feeling that if this bracket was being created two years from now after he's already been world champion and a main eventer for a while he wouldn't even make the tournament field. Once his underdog persona is gone so will he be.