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GREENSBORO -- Ryan Bradley sure knows how to give fans what they want.

Three months after putting retirement on hold, thanks to a fan campaign on Twitter and Facebook, Bradley stole the show from two-time national champion Jeremy Abbott and won the short program Friday night at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum.

And it wasn't all that close. Bradley's flawless and fabulously entertaining program to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" earned him 80.39 points, putting him exactly two points ahead of Abbott. Brandon Mroz is a distant third heading into Sunday's free skate.

"When I started training again, if I wasn't prepared to make a push at the title, to have a chance of winning it, I didn't want to be here," Bradley said. "I got off the plane and I felt something in the air. I plan on staying on top."

Bradley has always been a fan favorite, with playful, theatrical programs that could earn him an Oscar nomination as well as a medal. But after finishing fourth at last year's nationals and missing the Olympic team, the 27-year-old figured it was time to hang it up. He even did a backflip as he left the ice, his way of saying goodbye.

But those plans didn't hold up. First, he wound up on the world championship team after Olympic champion Evan Lysacek withdrew. As he was training for worlds, he fell and broke his right foot. Bradley kept on skating and, thinking it was healed, went in for a checkup in early May.

"(I expected) them to say, 'You're great, go back to training,' " Bradley said.

Instead, they told him he needed surgery. Immediately.

Thanks to those extra two months of training, the bone had healed, but it wasn't properly aligned. Surgeons had to re-break the bone and screw it back together in the proper alignment, and Bradley was off the ice the entire summer.

"I was planning on not competing," he said. "I didn't want to tell anyone that. But I was planning on taking some time off and really enjoying life."

So he taught classes to youngsters and, once the foot healed, did some shows. Though he never made a formal announcement of his retirement, fans got the idea and bombarded his Facebook and Twitter pages with pleas to return.

"It meant so much to me and I was like, 'I miss this. I miss these people,' " Bradley said.

So at the end of October, he resumed training.

"I was referring to myself as Brett Favre -- without the success," said Bradley, a huge Kansas City Chiefs fan.

He may not have the resume, but he does have the goods.

Dressed in an authentic military uniform -- or as close to authentic you can get in skating spandex -- Bradley opened his program with a monstrous quadruple toe loop-triple toe combination, the only quad-triple of the night. He followed with a triple axel that had so much hang time, it rivaled any pairs throw jump.

His footwork alone gave fans their money's worth. He boogied his way across the ice, snapping his fingers, smiling and flirting with just about everyone in the Greensboro Coliseum. He had the audience clapping and cheering, and it was on its feet before he finished his final spin.

Bradley blew kisses to the crowd and pounded his chest as he left ice, then sprinted up to the "Kiss and Cry" area and jumped up onto the podium. When he saw his marks, he jumped up again, the smile on his face so bright it practically lit up the entire coliseum.

Abbott is trying to join Johnny Weir as the only men to win three consecutive U.S. titles since Brian Boitano won four from 1985-88. That's an impressive feat -- Lysacek couldn't do it. Neither could world champion Todd Eldredge. Ditto Olympic bronze medalist Timothy Goebel.

Yet, Abbott generates about as much buzz as a Zamboni driver. Part of it is his own doing, flopping at the 2009 world championships and again at the Vancouver Olympics. But he's also had the misfortune of competing at the same time as Lysacek and Weir, the biggest personalities in U.S. men's skating since Boitano.

With neither Lysacek nor Weir competing since Vancouver, however, this is Abbott's chance to shine.

He wasn't even flustered by a five-minute delay while the previous competitor scoured the ice and his costume for a broken necklace.

"It was a little unusual, having to wait that extra time and hearing the announcements and all the noise," he said. "It kind of is distracting, and it detracts from your focus. But once I got in my starting pose, I let it go."

He made an effort Friday night, practically melting the ice with his fiery tango footwork. He stayed in character for several seconds after his music ended, fixing the judges with a piercing glare.

"I wanted to make a statement" with the program, Abbott said. "It shows a very strong, mature side of my skating."