Daniel Bryan ‘never once’ wanted to play an authority figure

Life takes funny turns for everyone. For former WWE champ and current SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan, even being in the job he started last month is one of those turns.

In an interview he recently gave to Fox Sports, Bryan discussed the transition injuries he sustained during his in-ring career forced him to make - and lead him to not only playing an authority figure on Tuesday nights, but also calling the action during WWE Network’s Cruiserweight Classic (CWC).

Despite being a lifelong wrestling fan who’d watched a lot of all-time greats take a spin in the GM role, it’s not a job Bryan ever thought he’d take - or even wanted. Asked if he envisioned himself in the role during his career, DB said:

Never once. I can tell you that [laughs]. When I first got to WWE the head of talent relations was John Laurinaitis, who is now my father-in-law, and the first thing I thought when I saw everything that he had to do is I thought 'I would never, in a million years, ever want that job. You could not pay me enough money to have that job.' And I don't do that job now, but yeah management was never something originally that I was interested in.

A big reason for that is probably the same reason so many fans love the YES Man - what Bryan loves about wrestling is wrestling. His answer when asked about the hardest part of his job probably won’t surprise anyone who watched his emotional farewell to the ring this past February:

The hardest part actually is not the task of being the GM, it's moreso being around wrestling and not being able to actually wrestle. That's the hardest part. The other stuff is .... I feel like I'm not the greatest general manager in the history of general managers, but I do OK and I'm learning as I go. I try to just do my best with it.

Check out the whole interview for some ‘reality’ era kayfabe discussion of the current WWE product, and insight into how he and Mauro Ranallo worked on calling the CWC.

And let us know what you think of Bryan in his new role. Just happy to have him back on your screen? Or are you still pining for the days when he could do his old job?