Daniel Bryan on SummerSlam, Working with John Cena, and More

DirectTV recently featured an interview with Daniel Bryan in promotion for August 18th’s WWE PPV event, SummerSlam. Here are a few questions that the #1 contender for the WWE Championship answered in the exclusive interview:

What were your initial thoughts when you found out you would be facing John Cena for the WWE title at SummerSlam?

It was incredible and humbling. I have been wresting for a long time and most of the time it was in front of very small crowds who couldn’t care less about who was coming out there. I have wrestled in front of 13 people! And just hearing the reaction of the people in Brooklyn who were shouting “Yes! Yes!” – it was very surreal. Like “is this really my life?”

What’s your game plan against John Cena for SummerSlam?

I can’t stray too far from what I normally do. I’ll make sure to do a lot of my kick boxing and grappling for training but then also just prepare cardio-wise for what’s going to be happening. A lot of the John Cena’s matches go about 30 minutes so a lot of that is just being prepared physically for something like that. Nerves are always good and play a factor in big WWE match but Summer Slam is by far the biggest event of my career so I’m really excited about it.

Mick Foley recently posted something very complimentary about you on Facebook, Did you happen to see it?

No, I don’t have Facebook. Unfortunately, I don’t understand technology very well. I have a Twitter account that WWE set up for me so if I want to tweet something I can but I’m very bad about it (laughs). What did Mick say?

To paraphrase – he said your match with John Cena at SummerSlam would be one of the few matches that, as a fan, he would do anything to see live and that while Cena has been great for the company, he thinks your time is now. Hearing that coming from Mick Foley, what are your thoughts?

Well, I hope he is right and that my time is now. I feel like it is. It’s also very humbling. You know it’s crazy because I feel like my story is very much like Mick Foley’s story in the sense that I grew up a really hardcore wrestling fan and it took Mick a really long time to get to the WWE and to get opportunities to become respected. But it was the people who brought Mick to the main event, it was the people who were so entertained by how good he was – I feel the it’s the same for me. I’ve been wrestling 14 years so when you get a compliment from Mick like that it’s pretty awesome.

Tell us more about your start in the business. 

I always wanted to be a wrestler but I didn’t think I could be because I’m relatively small. I’m 5’8 and weigh 195 pounds. When I started I was a lot smaller. But when I was probably 15 or 16 years old, WCW started bringing in these cruiserweights like Rey Mysterio who was 5’3 and 150 pounds. That gave me no reason not to at least try and follow my dream.

Where did you start training?

I ended up training with Shawn Michaels. He’s the best. I left the night I graduated from high school, drove to Texas and trained with Shawn for a year. When I look back, I was so poor – I mean living on 20 dollars a month for groceries. I couldn’t fathom that now. It was tough but it was a lot of fun.

Who were your idols coming up?

I loved Dean Melenko and Eddie Guererro. Bret Hart was always one of my favorites. I’m also a big Seahawks fan and the guy who I really loved was a wide receiver named Steve Largent, who ended up being a politician in Oklahoma. He was always so respectable and was never about himself, he was about the team. A lot of people like the brash players but I like people who focus on the team and downplay what they do.

 

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