Daniel Bryan's in-ring return helped breath new life into the WWE Universe. 

Almost three years after his last match in April 2015, The Beard returned at WrestleMania 34, teaming up with Shane McMahon to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. 

Unsurprisingly, Bryan received a huge reception on the night - and he's had the same every time he steps foot in a WWE ring since. 

But this is nothing new for him. Even away from the ring, while he was serving as Smackdown Live's general manager, he was still well loved by fans - and he has been for almost all his career. 

Before his injury, Bryan was perhaps the most loved face in WWE. The "Yes!" Movement that began in 2013 and culminated with him headlining WrestleMania in 2014, was something his fans will never forget. 

In that storyline, Bryan won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by defeating both Batista and Triple H, after months of being kept down by The Authority. 

Ever since his "Yes!" Movement, one that appealed to wrestling fans all over the globe, DB has been in his rightful place - at the top of almost every WWE card. 

REACHING THE TOP

However, according to the man himself, getting to the top was a very tough journey for a number of reasons. 

He says that being pushed in WWE requires a lot of motivation and the self-confidence to speak up and make yourself stand out, which is something Bryan struggles with. 

"Despite what it sounds like, I'm not very motivated, right?" he revealed as a guest on the Why Not Now? podcast, per Wrestling Inc.  

"I'm very much somebody who just accepts things as they come for the most part. So in wrestling, I was getting very popular and the WWE still didn't want to push me to the top level because of my size." 

WHY HE WAS HELD BACK

Bryan also explained that he doesn't exactly fit the look of WWE's top guy. 

"A normal person looks at me, when I'm coming down the ramp to the ring, a normal person doesn't gravitate to looking at me unlike a John Cena who is enormous or some of the bigger guys like a Hulk Hogan, or a Steve Austin, or The Rock.

"As soon as they come down, it's like, 'wow! Look at that guy,' right? And that's what WWE typically wants in their top stars and I've never been very good at being like, 'hey, you guys should do more with me' or 'you guys should do this or do that with me'."

"I've never been someone who is motivated by that or pushes himself towards that, or pushes myself towards financial goals, or pushing myself towards anything other than what I love to do.

"And I'm constantly having to remind myself, like, 'hey, if you want to get to the next level where I want to be, you do have to do some pushing here.' And so yeah, that's a constant thing that I struggle with." 

Despite his struggles, Bryan has established himself as one of WWE's best performers, so he should have no trouble staying at the top from now on, especially with the crowd behind him.  

But clearly, the journey to get to the summit has been a tough one for him.  

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