Former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan is making the rounds with media interviews to promote Sunday’s SummerSlam on the WWE Network. Bryan, 35, is the figurehead GM on Smackdown Live and his work on the Cruiserweight Classic has been praised by fans online but it does not seem like he’s come to grips with retirement as an active in-ring performer.
Bryan said that he had to go down to Florida to shoot scenes for Total Divas at John Cena’s house and it was there when the the toll from the stress and uncertainty around his livelihood came to a boil. Bryan said, “I just had this horrible mental breakdown.” As an outdoorsman and environmentalist, he credits nature for helping him cope with the extreme sadness.
On whether he’s come to grips with retirement as an in-ring performer, he said, “It’s interesting because I guess the real answer is no, but it’s weird.” Bryan was cleared by doctors in Phoenix and UCLA before a test in New York City declared that he should not wrestle again. He said, “I don’t necessarily agree that there’s something wrong with me, right. The whole issue with concussions is so subjective.”
The interesting thing about the test in New York is that it’s not peer reviewed and it’s not something used (yet) in standard medical facilities but the results from that test is all WWE needed to determine that Bryan would not wrestle again.
Bryan says that commentating for the Cruiserweight Classic has been fun but he has mixed feeling on his new role on Smackdown Live. He said, “Doing the GM stuff has been fun, but it’s also been hard. I think one of the really hard things for me was sitting out there, I’ve had to sit out there for two matches, and when I come out, I get this great reaction and then I just sit in a chair and watch other people wrestle. It’s just like, ‘Oh, come on, man,’ ”
He said that there are parts of the show that are fun while other parts are hard for him. He also admitted that he almost walked away from wrestling completely after announcing his retirement but then he got the call to commentate for the CWC and felt that it would be fun. Regarding the Smackdown GM role, he gave an interesting comment about that. He said, “That was something that I was told to do.”
I highly recommend that you check out the entire interview. You can read it by clicking here.
