Here are additiona highlights from Daniel Bryan’s recent appearance on the Bear Hug it Out Podcast (courtesy of Wrestling Inc):
On his friends who are on Raw: “I have a lot of friends there like Sami Zayn, Cesaro, that sort of thing, so I’m going to miss seeing those guys because I won’t see them as often.”
On American Alpha: “I am so excited for these guys. I think that, one, not only are they great wrestlers, right? They’re great in the ring, but they’re entertaining dudes! Like, Chad Gable was in the Olympics. Right? Like, he’s just a stud athlete. Jason Jordan, stud athlete. And then, not only are these two stud athletes that [are] great at wrestling in general, but they’re just so entertaining, so funny, and I can’t wait to have them on our show.”
On the Cruiserweight Classic: “My favorite is Brian Kendrick and I’ve openly stated that. I think you might have seen it if you watched last week of the Cruiserweight Classic. I am really rooting for Brian Kendrick. He and I started wrestling together. We had our very first match October 4, 1999, Far West Rodeo in San Antonio, Texas. So I’ve known Brian for a long, long time and he’s just fantastic and so I’m really rooting for him.”
On other guys he’s pulling for: “There’s some amazing talent in there like Kota Ibushi. Even there [are] guys like Johnny Gargano [and] Tommaso Ciampa, who’ve been seen on NXT TV. Then a guy like Zack Sabre, Jr. If you have never seen Jack Gallagher, he’s an extraordinary gentleman, right? And so he comes in, and literally, teaching jiu jitsu, so he didn’t give himself the name ‘Gentleman Jack’. He [has] done a couple of MMA fights. He teaches jiu jitsu at a gym in England. And he literally, since he has been a kid, shows up every day for practice in a three-piece suit.”
On his experience being roommates with Shinsuke Nakamura: “So this is wild. Me, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Lyoto Machida, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, all shared a two-bedroom apartment together. And Nakamura and Lyoto Machida, like, had this, like, weird rivalry, right? They just didn’t like each other. I was kind of like the peacemaker of the crew. I wouldn’t say peacemaker, but you could just see, like, Lyoto Machida didn’t speak great English. I mean, he spoke decent English and Nakamura spoke decent English, but just enough for the miscommunication. And they’re both stud enough athletes to be like ‘ugh, ugh’ and really get after each other. But it was great. Me and Nakamura had a great time living together. So he is not a big fan of sweets. I love sweets. Like, every week of my life, I’ve had a cheat day. And some weeks I’ve gone really bad, so, like, I love cookies, cakes, that sort of thing, and so I introduced Nakamura to donuts. I don’t think he [has] ever had a donut. He’s like, ‘I don’t really like sweets’. [Bryan responded] ‘no! This is going to blow your mind!’ And I never met anybody like it who, he had a bite of the donut and he said, ‘ew, too sweet’ and I was just like, ‘what? What culture do you come from where you can ingest too much sugar?’”
