Former WWE Champion and current SmackDown Live general manager Daniel Bryan appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday to talk to Jonathan Coachman about WWE. The segment opened with Bryan’s retirement speech from earlier this year.
Coachman asked him about his retirement due to concussions and how the last six months have been for him. Bryan said it was tough, but the fans can watch it on “Total Bellas.” Bryan explained that he loves to be around WWE and his friends. The hardest thing for him is to find something to put his energy in now. He noted that he has been wrestling since he was 18. Bryan added that it’s a great problem to have.
Coachman asked him what were the challenges of being around in WWE but not in the ring, Bryan said that it’s been really tough to sit at ringside and watch a match. Bryan noted that he has told Brie that he is going to quit WWE but Brie she talks him out of it and reminded him that they’re trying have kids.
Coachman brought up The Miz’s promo on Bryan on Talking Smack. Bryan said that he knew very little about it, and all he knew was that Miz was going to come out, and they were going to banter back and forth. Bryan said that he didn’t like the way Miz wrestles and that Miz brought up personal things about him that he didn’t like during the promo, which included Bryan saying in interviews that he would be coming back while dealing with his concussion in 2015. Bryan said that Miz knows that he has thought about wanting to leave WWE to work on the indies because he loves wrestling so much but knows that’s probably not a smart idea and that his wife keeps him in check about not leaving the company. Bryan added that he really felt like punching Miz in the face after Miz’s promo.
When asked about his relationship with Miz, Bryan thinks WWE will keep them apart from each other. Bryan said that he has a lot of respect for Miz for his time in WWE but with SmackDown being live then anything can happen when people get on each other’s nerves.
Everyone wants to know if Bryan would wrestle again and Coachman asked him about the chances of that. Bryan explained that if he were asked 9 days out of 10 he would say yes. Bryan said that some days he tries to convince himself that he can still wrestle. Bryan explained that it’s very hard not to be in the ring because concussions are so subjective. Bryan said that he was passed by a lot of specialists but one test flagged him, and that made him think if that really should have stopped him from wrestling. Bryan said he feels great and thinks he could wrestle every day. “I feel 100%.”
Finally, Coachman asked about the difficulties of going through retirement and being filmed while dealing with it. Bryan said that it’s been tough because he had to live with John Cena and Nikki Bella in their home for the upcoming reality series. Bryan said that in the past when he didn’t have wrestling to lean on he would go to nature but by leaving in Florida, he couldn’t do that.
Bryan thanked ESPN for having him on the show, and this wrapped up the segment.
