10 Fascinating Facts About Famous Wrestling Promos
6. Bryan Danielson Worked With A Creative Writer (And Loved It)
You might think that Bryan Danielson as Daniel Bryan used his elevated, protected status and quasi-creative writer role to cut his own promos; after all, he wanted more freedom, which in part informed his jump to All Elite Wrestling. Also, it's not as if Vince McMahon took a red pen to his copy and said "No, Daniel, you really must do more to frame our publicly traded company as wildly unethical".
He used his creative influence to turn heel in the first instance, sensing (correctly) that his dud 2018 programme with The Miz had undermined the magic of his return.
Weirdly, Daniel Bryan - and he was speaking to the Sports Illustrated Media podcast as AEW's Bryan Danielson, so it wasn't as if he was in bootlicking mode - praised the WWE creative process. At least in this regard; he once laughed in the face of the Gorilla Position's James Delow for suggesting that WWE might actually make the Miz programme last until WrestleMania 35.
But he did love his wonderful run as the Planet's Champion, and put over a "Robert" and the collaborative process in general for keeping him focused on the narrative without, in as many words, being too much of a hippy.
He did then say "Eventually I wasn't allowed to talk about the environment at all," so it's no wonder he f*cked off.
But he actually liked the handcuffs. For a while.