Yes!

Daniel Bryan Yes! Craig Tello and Peter Berkrot No!

For a biography, it was very well done. It really peeled back the curtain on recent WWE history and that's always cool to hear about. And it does have all the things wrestling fans want. Good road stories.

However, this book interweaves the life of Bryan Danielson and the week leading up to WrestleMania 30 for Daniel Bryan. The difference could not be more jarring. One half of the book is Bryan Danielson telling you what he wants to tell you, the other half is the story WWE wants you to know. The content and performance of these WWE scripted parts are corny and comes off like it's meant for a 2nd grader. It's painful to sit through like a bad Monday Night.

But the Bryan Danielson parts are good. It's great and refreshing hearing about a WWE superstar who isn't an absolute greaseball.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

yes!! yes!! yes!!!

Great story about wrestling.. could use more drugs, sex, and suplexing though... jk... This was a great book

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

A mixed bag, but worth it for Bryan fans

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book alters between two narratives from beginning to end. Each chapter starts with a journalistic section following Daniel Bryan in the days leading up to Wrestlemania 30, and then switches to a Bryan-narrated section recounting his rise.

The primary narrative is the classic wrestler's story, familiar to anyone who follows the business but full of enough details to be entertaining. Daniel Bryan recounts his journey from humble beginnings to stardom, touching on all his underground work, training, and favorite matches. I enjoyed these sections, which made up a bulk of the book. One thing lacking was introspection from Bryan about his life and evolution in and out of the ring. But I was nevertheless fully entertained by each Bryan-narrated section.

The journalistic sections that begin each chapter follow Bryan in the lead-up to his epic Wrestlemania 30 matches. These sections are terrible. Many other reviews attack the narrator's cheesiness, which is fair but hardly scrapes the surface. The real problem with these sections is the awful, embarrassing writing. I cringed at each new chapter, when the over-the-top, clunky, weak, and stupid words began again. It's hard to believe these sections were actually published. They are garbage, and completely unnecessary to the story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Yes!?

Bryan's trip to Mexico for his first mask.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Bryan did a fine job.

The narrator of the journalistic sections was bad, but not even Morgan Freeman could save the horrible writing. Those sections should be cut entirely from the book.

Was Yes! worth the listening time?

Yes!

The crappy journalistic sections are only a fraction of the book. The majority of it is pretty good.

Any additional comments?

Cut the entire lead-up to Wrestlemania sections at the start of each chapter. The story works fine without them, and they are so bad that they detract from the overall experience.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Loved this book except....

I really really liked this book. My problem is with co-narrator Peter Berkrot. The way he spoke during his part of the book was unbearable. After the first chapter, I skipped every part of his just to listen to Daniel speak. If you want to hear about how Daniel Bryan became one of the best wrestlers in the world, then I suggest you get this book and skip the parts with Mr. Berkrot.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A unique & compelling look into the life of Bryan

Daniel Bryan’s Yes!: My Improbable Journey to the Main Event of WrestleMania is a great retelling of the career of WWE’s most unlikely of recent world champions. He tells earnestly about his career, the people that helped him throughout it and also of the people and events that didn’t quite go his way. From highs as champion of Ring of Honor, to lows like getting hired and fired from WWE developmental in the early 00s. Daniel Bryan’s voice echoes throughout the book and, despite a few f-bombs here and there, comes off about as nice as his in-ring persona seems.

The story itself is both written by Bryan himself, as well as writer Craig Tello, who starts each chapter with a third person narration of Daniel Bryan and his -then soon-to-be- wife Brie Bryan’s final few days leading up to Daniel’s big WrestleMania 30 moment, leading into Daniel Bryan’s own first person chronological retelling of his life and career. It paints a perfect picture of the man that Daniel Bryan is, his vision on wrestling and how his career unfolded. It is, in that sense, the perfect book.

The narration of Craig Tello’s portion of the book is read by Peter Berkrot and, honestly, leaves much to be desired. Berkrot reads the parts as if he were reading a big fantasy, trying to put much more emotion into the narration than is needed and expected. It is very distracting and takes a lot away from what is being said. Luckily, those parts only serve as the introduction to the meat of the story, Daniel Bryan’s parts. Those, are read by Daniel Bryan himself and his narration is, as one would expect from an autobiography, natural. Often, and accurately, described in the book as soft-spoken, Daniel Bryan reads his tale as if he were sitting next to you and telling you his stories in normal conversation. His emotion clearly ringing through his voice, especially when the subject turns to his wife or deceased father. Giving his narration an extra dimension over regular narration.

All in all, if you like Daniel Bryan, or pro-wrestling in general, Yes! is pretty much the perfect book. Focussing mostly on Bryan’s wrestling career and sidestepping where needed in his personal life, it provides a unique and uncensored look on an unlikely WrestleMania Main Eventer and on the backstage life of wrestler in both the independent scene, as well as the WWE.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great book!!!

loved the book...it was very inspirational...it was hard to finish without crying!!! YES! YES! YES!

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

very well done...

Bryan did a great job on the writing and reading... Sorry for losing your father

it was ok

glad I did the audio version. if I had tried to read a hard cover I'm not sure I would have finished it.

it's an above average book but I didn't learn anything from it. nothing new that hasnt already been publicized via WWE. the epilogue was both
a tear jerker and the best part of the book.

the performance was uninspiring and a bit odd with 2 narrators. DB didn't show a wide range of emotion. very monotone through out. the other performer didn't show much either. showed s real lack of interest in the subject.

great "read"

great story by Bryan. loved hearing how he grew up, in life and in wrestling. I like the layout of working backwards from WM30 to DB's upbringing and break into pro wrestling. overall, loved it!

Yes!

Great story, I just wish it didn't end on that sad note. RIP Bryan's father.