WWE on FOX has released more of the WWE Backstage interview with Daniel Bryan. Highlights are below:
On actively not wanting to go to WWE: “One of my things was actually I actively did not want to go to WWE. I really liked the DIY aesthetic as far as, I liked being in control of my own schedule, I liked being able to be like, OK, I’m going to take a couple of weeks off here and go do this thing or go watch this Seahawks game with my dad or all of that kind of stuff.”
On feeling like he couldn’t be successful in WWE because he wasn’t good at promos: “I remember when [CM] Punk signed with WWE and I thought like, man, if they give him a shot, he’s gonna blow them away. I actually didn’t think that about myself and the reason why is because WWE is so promo-heavy, and so interview-heavy, and at that point, I was not good at promos, and I would say actively bad, maybe, would be some of the terms. I could do a sports promo, like, OK, hey, you’re fighting this guy, OK, I’m going to go in there and do this, or whatever it is, but as far as being entertaining, I could do that a little bit but that’s not what they would do with smaller guys and that sort of thing, and my interest has always been in my love for wrestling and I’ve never wanted to be famous and I only needed enough money to survive, so the rest of it was just, OK, whatever.”
On what led to him deciding to join WWE: “It was actually when I started getting a decent amount of injuries and that kind of stuff, where I looked at my life and was like, OK, either I’m going to have to sign with WWE where I can save up enough money to where I can be kind of taken care of for the rest of my life or whatever, or I’m going to need to start looking at another path, where it’s like, I’ll still wrestle on the weekends, but I need to look at going to school. And 2009 was a make or break year for me where I decided, OK, I’m gonna spend all year training MMA just because I’ve always wanted to do it and never just got the chance to do it, and I’m gonna work really hard at getting into WWE, because this is kind of my make or break year, and if that doesn’t work, I’m going to go back and start going to school and cut down on my independent dates and start working towards a normal life after this.”
