Daniel Bryan was the latest guest on Edge & Christian’s E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness podcast. Bryan talked about his beginnings in WWE, how his relationship has become stronger with Brie since they’ve had a child together, the “lost generation” of WWE performers currently on the roster, and much more. Three major topics Bryan discussed were whether Will Ospreay and Ricochet’s wrestling style could work in the WWE, the biggest problem with 205 Live, and his status as an in-ring performer.
Here are the highlights.
Whether Will Ospreay or Ricochet’s Wrestling Style Could Work in WWE:
“I think at first it can, but I also think that WWE is very character-driven. So right now (I was talking about this with John Cena), so when I first came into the WWE in 2010, right, so there were some people occasionally doing some things that were like, the suicide dives and, you know, all that kinda stuff.
“But it was a very different style than what you see now. Now they’ve brought in a lot of independent wrestlers, and stuff like that. But I was able to stand out, like, okay this guy does things a little bit differently, because he does things like this. And that helped me get over because I was different.”
Biggest Problem with ‘205 Live’:
“[The reason why] I think they have a hard time with 205 Live and the cruiserweights, is that, they do some incredible stuff, but you know who’s also doing incredible stuff? AJ Styles, doing springboard 450 splashes. As so, to somebody who knows the degree of difficulty, they may see Mustafa Ali [and his inverted 450 splash]. It’s incredible, but to the casual fan, is that any more impressive than AJ Styles doing a springboard 450 splash? And he’s a main event guy who gets promo time, and all this kind of stuff, you know.
“Same thing with like, a Seth Rollins… He’ll do the spot where he’ll do three suicide dives in a row, right, which is really neat. But, you’ve seen X number of suicide dives throughout the show already and by the time you’re seeing that, so you’re coming in hoping to stand out on your style alone, and your style alone is acrobatics, I think that’s hard to stand out if that’s just your thing.”
Status as an in-ring performer:
“With all this postitive [treatment progress], I’m thinking, there’s no reason why I can’t return to doing what I love. And it may never be full-time, and it may never be this idea that I’m gonna go in and I’m gonna be the guy that main-events every live event and all that kind of stuff. I’m not even sure if I want that, now that I have a child. I don’t wanna be away from her that much, you know? But, to say that I can’t do what, to wrestle, say, like 50-100 matches a year, or to say I can’t do what Jerry Lawler and Terry Funk are still doing in their 60s, that’s kind of where I’m at.
“So, it’s been like a real work in progress, and it’s really tested my patience. And, I think the hard part when I look back on it, is I feel like the prime years of my career I lost, but I’m really working on like, okay, well this is something that I love, and I’m gonna do it. But, I also want to give the caveat of this; if at any point there’s a real indication that I should not be wrestling, I don’t wanna wrestle. My health is 100% more important than coming back to wrestle.”
You can hear the full interview below.
If any portion of these quotes is used, be sure to H/T E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness via WrestleZone for the transcription.
