Daniel Bryan Reveals The WWE Match That Helped Him To Get Healthy Again
Bryan had to retire in 2016
Mar 22, 2021
Daniel Bryan has revealed sitting ringside to watch AJ Styles face Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley) was the match that motivated him to show WWE he could get cleared to wrestle again.
Bryan had to retire from in-ring action in 2016 after health issues relating to the concussions he had suffered during his career, but was cleared by WWE to return in 2018.
AJ Styles had moved to WWE just weeks prior to Bryan's retirement announcement and the former WWE Champion has admitted the thought of not working with 'The Phenomenal One' in the promotion was a hard one to swallow.
The hardest moment for the 39-year-old came when he was made to sit ringside for Styles' match with Dean Ambrose, taking him to another level of wanting to show he could get back into the ring.
Bryan would also admit he wasn't fully committed to the roles WWE gave him post-retirement, not completely embracing his position as Smackdown general manager in the months following his retirement.
Speaking to Bleacher Report, Bryan said: "If they were not going to let me wrestle, I was for sure gone. I had gotten cleared by so many doctors at that point and felt very confident in my ability to wrestle.
"I'm very thankful that...the frustrating part; I don't want to say the frustrating part, But the part I'm disappointed in myself about is that I had a bad attitude about it. I don't want to say I showed up to work with a bad attitude and was like, 'Screw this place!' As opposed to embracing it and really trying to do my best work, a lot of times I didn't and just showed up to work. Even if I showed up to work with a smile on my face, I showed up in the back of my head thinking, 'I just want to get home. I don't want to be here.'
"It was really hard for me to watch other people do what I love up close and not be able to do it. The worst one was when I had to sit ringside for a Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles match and that was the one that broke me.
"AJ and I at that point hadn't [fought]. He hadn't come to WWE before I retired. Seeing those guys go out there, and they're both great, I was like, 'Man, I should be in there doing this with these guys.' It really ate me up, and when I came home, I think Brie saw a different person as far as striving to prove.
"Because that was the thing: I had to prove that I was healthy as opposed to them trying to prove I shouldn't be able to wrestle. Given the circumstances, that was the absolute right route they should have taken."
