The Art of Wrestling – The American Dragon

Is it supposed to be irony that the American Dragon uses a Chinese dragon for one of his shirts?

Why does the American Dragon use a Chinese dragon for one of his shirts?

With Bryan Danielson headed out of Ring of Honor and into WWE Developmental, I figured it was a good time to take a look at the merchandise he had in ROH and see if the WWE could use it.

The first shirt on ROH’s t-shirt list is the “Cattle Mutilation” on sale now for $15.00. In the child friendly environment of the current WWE, this shirt and for that matter the name of his finisher is going to get changed. I’ll take a quick look at the shirt though. I’m a sucker for black and gold (really yellow unless you’re talking Penguins) so I like the color scheme. The design itself is really simple with just the name of his finisher in a non colored and colored half box. I have no idea what the greater than (>) and less than (<) symbols are supposed to mean between all of the lettering. Even when the WWE goes to simple (Kofi and Bourne) the design has some type of appeal (at least to the kids) so check this shirt off the list.

Danielson’s second shirt might fly but again is so simple that even a child could come up with it. It just says “Danielson” in black lettering and a red outline with “bricks” taken out that are strewn all around the letters in no particular order. At the end of that is a pink heart that contains “Pro Wrestling” in the same font used for “Danielson”. The lettering is just the abscense of the pink color that shows off the light gray of the remainder of the shirt. Do the women that are willing to go to a ROH show even enjoy this shirt? Just complete and utter laziness that isn’t even worth the $10 it costs to buy this shirt. I’d rather be caught wearing Shawn Michaels chaps than this shirt so I’m sure the WWE won’t use it.

A Native American interpretation of a dragon.

A Native American interpretation of a dragon.

The last shirt in ROH’s arsenal is this one. It is a maroon shirt which matches his trunks. The front has a picture of himself with a determined looked and hands up in a fighting pose. Wrapped around his picture is a dragon that is decidedly Chinese inspired. Considering he was the  “American Dragon” (at least according to the Online World of Wrestling) I’m a bit surprised it doesn’t look more European in style which tend to be larger in the body and not quite as long. I even found a Native American dragon that could have been used. I do like the look though and it gives his picture a border without just a plain old black outline. It is strange that the light appears from the left side of him since the shadow is on the right side of his face. The shadows are on the dragon are the exact opposite which isn’t bad but just curious.

On the back of the shirt, is “American Dragon (below) Bryan (below) Danielson” which is sandwiched between two dragons. The print is vaguely Asian inspired as are the dragons still. The only knock I can mention is that the infill of the text and dragons on the back are white while the dragon’s chest and tail on the front are white flesh colored to match Danielson’s picture. This design could fly quite easily in the WWE but the chances that they keep his moniker is between fat and none. At least this shirt is on sale for $20 so get it while it’s cheap. – Kevin

3 Responses to “The Art of Wrestling – The American Dragon”

  1. Awesome Dude 2009-08-27 at 6:02 pm #

    Danielson won’t be able to keep his nickname due to Disney owned the trademark for the cartoon “The American Dragon, Jake Long”

    • stuntgranny 2009-08-28 at 9:06 am #

      You know I saw a bunch of cartoons when I put “American Dragon” into the Google image search but didn’t pay attention to what they were. That explains it. -K

  2. mush yung 2010-01-07 at 1:51 pm #

    if the picture above is the one you are reffering to then it is actually a korean dragon theres 4 different dragons western dragons have the body of a lion/eagle etc and are vicious evil creatures, japanese dragons (have 3 toes) peacefull and friendly, korean (have 4 toes) loyal and courageous and the chinese dragon (5 toes) majestic, faithful and strong but all are said to have come from china in one way or another

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