During a recent interview with TalkSport, Daniel Bryan discussed his backstage role in WWE and noted that he doesn’t have as much influence over the creative process as some might believe. 

On how much say he has creatively:

“It’s interesting because, one, I don’t have that big of a say [laughs]. Sometimes something really great will happen on SmackDown and somebody will say ‘oh, that’s Daniel Bryan!’ Like, that’s not me! One part is our performers – we have incredible superstars. Cesaro is a no-brainer. When you say ‘Daniel Bryan helped Cesaro’ – no. All I did was ‘hey this guy is really good. We should put him on TV and use him!’ [laughs]. Apollo Crews, I don’t have anything to do with Apollo Crews stuff. He’s just great. But it is rewarding to see people that you know are talented get opportunities and knock it out of the park. There’s a certain joy to that.”

On helping younger talent:

“William Regal has been my mentor in wrestling for years and one of the things he has told me is that being a mentor to a handful of people has been more rewarding than the actual wrestling. He said don’t get me wrong, he loved the wrestling part and wishes he could still do it, but being a mentor is very fulfilling. So yeah, there is something to that, the idea of helping people and from a human perspective we all want that. For a long time, when you’re young you’re like ‘I want to achieve this, I want to achieve this!’ but as you get older it’s ‘I want to help here, I want to help here’ and it’s just a different perspective.”

On the improvements to Smackdown: “It is cool seeing how great SmackDown has become and I also must say, part of that, that has nothing to do with me, is from someone who just sees performance different in the ThunderDome to how I ever would have thought it, that brings it to a whole new level is Roman Reigns. The character work and the way that he’s worked since returning and being in the ThunderDome I think has improved the quality of our television a great deal.”