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courtesy: bleacherreport.com
A few highlights from the interview:
Bryan was surprised by the Miami crowd's reaction on the Raw following WrestleMania, calling it "unreal." Bryan was asked why he thought the audiences are throwing their support behind him.
I feel like part of it was a backlash against how short my match at WrestleMania was. A lot of it is that people like to boo me, but they kid of like me. They don't want bad things to happen to me, like an 18-second loss at WrestleMania, especially the hardcore fans, which is mostly who comes for WrestleMania. People come from all over the world. They travel to WrestleMania, and a lot of those people know my story, how long it took me to get a WrestleMania match. And then for my first one to be an 18-second loss, it actually generated a lot of anger.
When asked whether he shared that anger, Bryan was blunt.
Of course I do…..I wanted to go out there and steal the show. I was trained by Shawn Michaels, and that's what he's notorious for…..I was really looking forward to going out there and showing everybody what I can do on the biggest stage of them all, and then I just wasn't able to do it.
Daniel Bryan reveals that there wasn't much of a conversation when he was told how he was going to lose the World Title. He was told the plan, and he simply went out and executed it to the best of his ability.
Bryan looks at the 18-second loss to Sheamus as an opportunity to start showing an even more aggressive side to his character.
Losing the World Heavyweight Championship in 18 seconds, storyline or not, is going to anger somebody. If you're been champion for four months and you lose it in 18 seconds on what's kind of a cheap shot, you're going to be a little bit angry. I'd like to amp up the more aggressive side of my character in that sense.
When asked about his title reign, Bryan was more than enthusiastic.
I was thrilled with it, actually. I didn't expect to hold the title as long as I did. When I won it, I thought, 'Oh, this is just a temporary thing. I'll probably lose it at the Royal Rumble.' It cemented me, in a lot of people's minds, as someone who could be in a main-event spot and do a good job at it.
The well-informed interviewer asked Bryan about Punk adapting Bryan's catchphrase "Best in the World" from the independent circuits. Bryan replied that Punk never asked him if he could use it. When asked how he felt about it, Bryan answered:
No, not at all (annoyed). Chris Jericho had done something similar after I had done it. The only thing that I find really funny is that the 'Best in the World' font on the back of his T-shirt is almost identical to the 'Best in the World' on the back of my Ring of Honor shirts. It's just funny.
Great interview all in all. And it speaks volumes to the rise of Daniel Bryan when GQ profiles him. He's a tremendous wrestler.
I think the WWE's only fears with him was whether he would be able to get the general WWE fan behind him, and I think that has clearly sorted itself out. Bryan's career is about to really start taking off.
source:bleacherreport.com
