Daniel Bryan Discusses Feeling Trapped When He Returned, Feels He’s Becoming The Best Again

The WWE has released an episode of The Day Of which follows Daniel Bryan leading up to his title defense against AJ Styles at WWE TLC. Below are highlights 

On Feeling Trapped When He Returned:

“I felt a little trapped when I came back,” Bryan admitted. “I had this new idea for a style that I wanted to wrestle but when you come back at Wrestlemania, they kept having people tell me, ‘Oh! They want to make sure that you’re okay and that you’re healthy. They want to see you do all the old stuff. They want to see all the dropkicks in the corner and the dives through the ropes’ and all this kinda stuff, and it felt like a trap. Like I had just fought so hard to get back to do something that I love, but then to be trapped in to a certain way of doing it.”

On Feeling Like He’s Becoming The Best Again: 

“It’s interesting because the new Daniel Bryan can’t be defined without the old Daniel Bryan,” Bryan explained. “It’s kinda self loathing more so than anything else. I hated what I had become and what I represented. The good things about myself that I had taken pride in for many many years had just kinda fallen to the wayside in this idea of the expectations of what Daniel Bryan was. And even just my mindset, the mindset of the old Daniel Bryan, so, he fought so hard to come back and then when he came back he was just happy to be back he wasn’t fighting for anything. I’m more confident in my abilities. Ya know, I’ve only been back – It’s been 8 months since I’ve returned to wrestling but somehow I feel more confident than ever,” Bryan said. “It’s interesting, there was a period when I was on the independent scene and probably about 2007 or 2008, where I literally felt like there was not a better wrestler than me on the planet. There were guys who were better at certain things, sure, but overall, there was nobody better on the planet. And now I’m getting back to that point.”