Daniel Bryan Discusses New GM Role, “Raw” Talent, Cruiserweight Classic

“Smackdown Live” General Manager Daniel Bryan recently sat down with FOX Sports to promote “SummerSlam” this weekend. He discussed a number of topics, including his new role as GM, the talent on “Monday Night Raw,” this role in the Cruiserweight Classic, and more.

Below are some excerpts from the interview:

FS: Obviously you’ve been around wrestling forever so you probably had a good idea of what you were getting yourself into, but what’s been the hardest part of your new role?

DB: The hardest part actually is not the task of being the GM, it’s moreso being around wrestling and not being able to actually wrestle. That’s the hardest part. The other stuff is …. I feel like I’m not the greatest general manager in the history of general managers, but I do OK and I’m learning as I go. I try to just do my best with it.

FS: Going back to the WWE Draft, if you pick one star away from Raw that’s on their roster, who would that be?

DB: So, if you would have asked me three weeks ago I would have said Cesaro, but he’s actually got some really great opportunities on Raw the last couple weeks, this past Monday he had two matches including being in the main event on Raw, so I hope that leads to him getting a larger role.

But, because of that, now I would say Sami Zayn. I mean Sami Zayn just had this incredible match with Kevin Owens that he won at Battleground, and fans really like him and he wasn’t even on Raw on Monday. We could really use somebody like that on SmackDown.

FS: I also want to ask about your role on the Cruiserweight Classic, which might be WWE’s best weekly show in my opinion. What was your learning process like in becoming a color commentator? Did you call practice matches with Mauro Ranallo?

DB: So Mauro and I called two or three practice matches together, and then he and I the night before the first taping of the Cruiserweight Classic went out to dinner together, and we were just talking about our views on wrestling, and our views on commentary is and what commentary should be and that kind of stuff. And that was pretty much it. One of the great things is that Mauro is fantastic at his job. Right? So like, people have been really complimentary toward me as far as my job as a commentator, but in reality if Mauro weren’t there, I wouldn’t sound so good, right? When you know the intricacies of it – I’m just now starting to learn it – you see how much Mauro sets me up for stuff. Mauro sets me up to make me sound good [laughs].

You can find the entire interview at this link.

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