Bryan Danielson Claims He “Could Sleepwalk Through” WWE Matches
Bryan Danielson has revealed that he felt he had become too comfortable in WWE, and that, while it wasn’t something he did, he believes he could “sleepwalk” through his WWE matches.
To the surprise of many, Bryan Danielson left WWE to join AEW in September 2021, making his debut for the company at the end of their biggest pay-per-view of the year, All Out. His last match for WWE – where he was known as Daniel Bryan – happened in April 2021, when he lost to Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
In conversation with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Show, the multi-time WWE Champion admitted that he had become too comfortable in WWE and the idea of jumping to AEW had “something exciting about it”.
“There was something exciting about it and a little scary. You get too comfortable at something for too long and there was just something exciting about it. There was also this idea in my mind where, I tried not to, and for the most part I didn’t, but in my WWE matches, I could go out there and kind of sleepwalk through them if I wanted to. I tried not to.”
The ‘American Dragon’ went on to explain that the style of wrestling in AEW wouldn’t allow for that kind of complacency, and initially, he wasn’t sure if it might even be too dangerous for him to wrestle there. In the end, it was Jon Moxley who convinced him to make the move.
“In AEW, you can’t because they do so much. I was watching one of their shows and I was like, ‘I don’t even know if I can wrestle here. These guys are doing so much. I think this might be dangerous for me.’ I had mentioned it to Jon Moxley and I said that to him and he said, ‘Dude, you’re Bryan Danielson, you can do any of this. You don’t have to do what these guys are doing, you can create your own thing.’”
Bryan Danielson is set to face former TNT Champion Miro in the final of the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament at Full Gear, with the winner becoming the Number One Contender for the title.
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.