10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Champion Daniel Bryan

5. RANDOM FACT: Bryan Was Named As "Most Animal Friendly Athlete" By PETA In 2012...

Following a series of staph infections, Danielson was given an ultimatum by his doctor, 'give up wrestling or go vegan'. It seemed that numerous health issues, including elevated cholesterol levels, were conspiring to shut Bryan down, just as he was getting started. However, as we've hopefully by now established, the man is no quitter and, as such, he promptly gave up all meat and animal products. Apparently, meat, dairy and other animal-based foodstuffs slow the immune system down because they require extra energy for the body to digest them, leaving the owner of the body open to more infections. The man who once mopped the floors at McDonalds was now having none of it (although I'm sure he wasn't the first to undergo such a vegetarian epiphany after working a while at Maccy D's!). In fact, Bryan was a strict vegan until last year, when he developed an acute soy intolerance (presumably not unlike the vegan-intolerance that the steak-munching carnivore Vince McMahon apparently suffered with when it came to Daniel Bryan!) As of right now, he does his best to avoid meat, but it isn't always an option when he's also avoiding soy products at the same time (or maybe its just to keep VKM happy, who knows?). Here, from the RVA interview, is another McMahon-buster; "Finding vegan food without soy in it and still being able to get your protein and that sort of thing that you need as an athlete is very, very difficult. I've been fortunate because there's a company called Vega who does vegan protein shakes and that sort of thing. They've sent me free vegan protein and all that kind of stuff, and their products are amazing. They don't have soy in it, so that's been fantastic, but finding real food besides that has been very, very difficult. Sometimes I have to eat some eggs or eat a little bit of meat just to get by, you know?" Personally, I feel the same way about pizza. In 2012, Daniel Bryan was given a Libby award for animal friendliness and named as 'The Most Animal Friendly Athlete' by animal rights group PETA. He beat NFL player Willis McGahee, baseball player Chase Utley and MMA fighter Jake Shields, all of whom were seriously considered for the award. As a famous animal lover, he's even said that he thinks "goats are handsome creatures", but then, he is somewhat biased in that regard...