It’s not hard to imagine Daniel Bryan being miserable during his stint as SmackDown GM. As it turns out, he actually was.
Bryan joined Talk is Jericho and explained why it was so hard for him to be a non-wrestling character in WWE. Bryan actually felt guilty to hate his role, considering how good of a gig it was. But to the 36-year old, there is no substitute for actually competing in the ring.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“‘What am I doing?’ This is the part of me where I’m like, ‘What a sissy I am!’ Lots of people go to their jobs that they don’t like and make way less money than me being the GM of SmackDown, but I could not get out of this mental state where I hate being here,” Bryan said.
SmackDown GM quickly turned into a 9 to 5 lifestyle, something that simply conflicted with Bryan’s personality. Eventually, he’d get fed up and would begin to plot a new course.
“I really disliked going to work every week, and there would be times where I would fly in and get the script to the show, I would try to get as many people as I could to get in the shoot so I can leave that night and just get out of there. That was when I really started to say that I wouldn’t accept this anymore, I’m going to come back.”
Bryan would go on a crusade to find neurologists who could give him advanced testing and treatment in order for him to mount a comeback. Finally, Bryan would have enough evidence that he was indeed healthy and brought that material to Vince McMahon.
However, Vince didn’t originally share Bryan’s excitement and was more concerned what would happen if Bryan were to get another concussion. But Bryan was able to pitch a solution.
“After every match now I get checked. Not even thanking my opponents, after WrestleMania, I walked to Gorilla. No thank you’s to anybody, just walked straight to the Doctor’s and then I get checked. They do basic neurological stuff, and we are revising that as we go because it is new to them too,” illustrated Bryan.
Bryan was quick to thank WWE’s head doctor, Joseph Maroon. Without his open-mindedness, Bryan would still be hating his life as SmackDown GM.
I give Doctor Maroon a lot of credit because it is hard to reverse your decision regarding clearing me. He could have easily sent me to Neurologists that backed his opinion. He sent me to people that had the latest, up to date research on concussion,” he said.
Bryan quest to return jas provided one of the better stories in WWE history. We’re glad to have him back and can’t wait to see what’s next.
[H/T Wrestling Inc.]