WWE Smackdown GM Daniel Bryan was the recent guest on “The Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast”, which you can listen to in full below or at this link. The following are some interview highlights:
On His Somber Demeanor on Total Bellas:
For most of my life, I’ve been very upbeat, but when the cameras are around you all the time, and that particularly for me that was a difficult time in my life, they were just there all the time and in there waiting for you to explode.
On No Worrying About Speaking His Mind:
Sometimes I just say things, and then sometimes in my earpiece someone is saying, “Why are you saying this??” It’s like, the reason why is because guys you used to do that before, like for example, during the Attitude Era, people would say, yeah, fire me I’ll go to WCW, or the territory area, I’ll go to a million places, now it’s like, yeah, fire me…where do you go now? Please don’t fire me, I can’t do anything else, nor do I know how to do anything else. Now I’m like a pool boy, Brie has her reality show; she’s an Executive Producer on Total Bellas, her and Nicole, they’re on Total Bellas, Total Divas, they’re Ambassadors for WWE; they’ve got this wine, they’re doing all this stuff, and then it’s like, well, what am I doing? I’m a GM and Talking Smack.
On His Vision of Talking Smack:
My thing with Talking Smack is I want our talent to look really good. For example, Baron Corbin was on the show a few weeks ago, he was awesome. Did great and the key is-the show is not about Rene and I, we’re just host, but we’re there to bring stuff out of people, something to help them. Heath Slater and Rhyno were on this week, and they didn’t even need us there. They didn’t need Rene and I there, they were so entertaining, but part of our job, and this is something I am still trying to learn is to bring something out of it, but also leaving it on these guys, leaving it on Baron Corbin, don’t try to one-up him. When he says something and then challenge him a little bit, but then it’s like, man, he has a really good point, let’s just leave it like that.
About Overshadowing the Talent During Talking Smack:
I don’t feel like I have done a one-up on anybody. Maybe in the first couple ones I might of, like when Eva Marie was on, I was like very new, but other than that, Renee and I actively make it about the people; overall we try our best though.
On Brie Bella Returning to WWE After Her Pregnancy:
She wants to have at least one more match. It was never about, Brie, I’m retired so you can’t wrestle anymore. It was, I have to retire, and then she would say, well, I want to retire too so we can do this baby-making process, but she doesn’t want to come back full time, but she wants that comeback story; she wants to prove herself. It’s her idea that she wants to have a baby and then come back to wrestling, and not just wrestling like, at an independent show, it’s like, I want to come back at the highest level. I want to come back to the WWE and that sort of thing. She really has that goal in mind.
On the Difficulties of Travel Once Bryan’s Baby is Born:
It’s weird. The baby changes everything. For example, there are times I really enjoy Talking Smack, and then there are times when it’s like, you know, you’re traveling all that way to not wrestle. If it was in Phoenix, and I can go be the GM, and go host Talking Smack, then it’s like, yeah, this is the greatest job in the world, but then like, especially once we have the baby that is the tough part. It’s like, man, do I really want to leave the baby? Brie and I’s relationship it’s really hard to leave one another. That’s how our entire relationship has been. We met each other in WWE, and sometimes we’ve been on different schedules, but it’s hard enough to leave Josie, but to leave this baby. It’s like, there are times on Smackdown that I don’t even want to be on it. I only want to be on it when it’s absolutely necessary for me as the GM for me to be out there. I want the focus to be on the talent. It’s like this last Smackdown; I was in one small segment on Smackdown and then I was on Talking Smack. You leave on Monday morning and you don’t come back until Wednesday; it’s like, do I really want to leave my baby for two whole days? I think they know, as much as I like to poke fun at Raw, I am really positive overall about the company because, for example, right now, Brie and I are taking Spanish lessons that the WWE is providing for us. We have a Spanish tutor that comes to the house and they provide college education, they provide funds for people who want to do that, so there’s all these things that, you know, when I see something I don’t like I say it, but overall, it’s a great company to work with.
To Listen to this entire podcast, including an interview with Finn Balor on the same podcast episode, subscribe to Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast on iTunes.
