Daniel Bryan Comments on WWE WrestleMania 37 Experience, Says He Felt “Detached” and Might Be Time to Stop Being Full-Time Wrestler

Daniel Bryan was in main event of WrestleMania 37 night two on April 11 as one of the challengers to the Universal Title held by Roman Reigns. While Bryan came close to winning the Universal Title multiple times in the match, he failed to capture the Universal Title. The match ended with Roman Reigns pinning Edge and Daniel Bryan at the same time. Reigns did get an assist from cousin Jey Uso to help him win the match, but it’s the end result that matters and it was a clear win for Reigns.

There are now questions about Daniel Bryan’s future. He wasn’t Smackdown this past Friday. We don’t know when he’ll be back or what his role might be. It is believed that his WWE contract is up later this year with September as the rumored time period for when it expires. In the lead-up to WrestleMania, Bryan mentioned repeatedly that it could be his last WrestleMania. I don’t know if I believe that, but for all we know he could really mean that. Bryan turns 40 years old on May 22 and has been wrestling for over 20 years with a lot of injuries mainly to his neck as well as concussion issues in the past. For the past three years, he has been healthy and competing for WWE on a regular basis.

Bryan did an interview with BT Sport that ran for 30 minutes and during the discussion, he talked about how he felt detached at WrestleMania and he contemplated his wrestling future. Here is some of the transcript from WrestlingInc and then I’ll post the video interview at the bottom of the post.

Bryan talked about how he felt at WrestleMania:

“It was really bizarre. Just really, really bizarre… It’s taken me, it’s been nine days now since it happened, and it’s taken me time to fully process what the experience was like because it wasn’t like a normal thing. It was really weird. I felt very – like out of body in it. It was so weird.”

“When I’m wrestling, I feel everything and I feel like I’m really enjoying it. Like I’m out there and I’m like ‘Gosh,’ having fun. This was weird, I was out there and it was almost like I felt like I was detached. And I was out there, and it was so strange, in fact, that before the match started, I got this really weird feeling, I was like, ‘Oh no, is this what it’s like right before you die? Am I going to die? [laughs] I mean. huh, well, okay.’ I was like, if that happens it happens. [laughs]. It was just a really bizarre feeling. I don’t know why or how that happened, but it was unlike pretty much anything I’ve felt while wrestling before.”

Here’s what Bryan said early in the interview when asked about the WrestleMania 37 main event match:

“I haven’t watched it back yet, to be honest. I don’t know if watching it back would really help figure out why I was so detached. I’m not a big believer in signs. Most people think of me like this hippy-dippy kind of thing because I’m an environmentalist, but I’m really not. I really love science and reality-based things. But maybe it’s a sign that it’s time to let go of being a full-time wrestler, which is kind of what I’ve been thinking for a while.”

“When I first started training Shawn Michaels said, ‘The second that you don’t get nervous right before you go out, that’s when you need to retire,’ and I don’t necessarily believe that because for a long time, I haven’t gotten nervous before I go out. I’m excited because it’s fun, but the odd detachment was like whoa, maybe it’s either I’m gonna die (Bryan laughs) or it’s time. Maybe this is just a sign that this isn’t the same type of fulfilling that it was before, so it’s interesting. I don’t know. I just said I’m not hippy-dippy, and I’ve been trying to meditate on it and talk to my friends that I’m close with to be like, ‘Hey, what is that?'”

Bryan also discussed what it was like being a father to daughter Birdie and son Buddy, who was born last summer, and how difficult it is leaving the kids at home so he can go to work:

“So my contract’s actually up relatively soon. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing with my life (Bryan chuckles). I’m going to be 40 soon with two kids. I’ve been on lone dad duty. Brie [Bella] had a couple days with the girls. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Brie has this every week!’ With one kid, I don’t want to say it’s easy, but throw in two kids and one of them being a baby baby and it’s just like, oh my gosh, I’m juggling all these things.”

“There’s that, and I just love spending time with my kids, and sometimes I feel like being on the road every week — you leave. You come back. When you come back, you’re tired. I didn’t drink coffee before we had our daughter. I still hate the taste of it, but when I come home on a Saturday, I coffee up.” (Bryan gestures drinking coffee with both hands)

“She’s super excited to see me, and I’m super excited to see her, but if I come and be like, ‘Sweet girl, I’m so excited to see you! Daddy’s got to go take a nap.’ She’d be like, ‘Oh, he doesn’t really seem that excited to see me. He just wants to go sleep,’ and so I have to coffee up. I got this last week off of TV and the difference in energy that I have for my kids is like, whoa, this is really nice, but I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

Towards the end of the interview, Bryan said that it was fun for him to be at WrestleMania, but it was just a bizarre feeling.

You can watch the full interview below.

TJR Thoughts: It sounds like Bryan isn’t sure what he wants to do and it should be noted that he was laughing during some of the comments. I think he’s just an honest guy that wears his heart on his sleeve so to speak. I think if he does stop being a full-time wrestler in WWE after his deal is up in September, he can still be part of WWE as a part-timer that might wrestle for a few months in a year rather than appear on TV on a regular basis. When Shawn Michaels was in WWE from 2002 to 2010 he wasn’t wrestling live events much at all and only was on TV. There were times when he would take months off as well.

I have a hard time thinking Bryan is going to leave WWE. The company helps produce Total Bellas and Total Divas starring his wife Brie Bella, who is also an Executive Producer. If Bryan were to wrestle for another company, he likely wouldn’t be able to be on a show about his family life. I think because of those shows, Bryan is always going to be part of WWE, but I could be wrong, I guess.