WRITTEN PODCAST RECAP: E&C Pod of Awesomeness w/ Daniel Bryan on his desire to wrestle again, why he thinks he might be able to, the current wrestlers who stand out to him

Daniel Bryan interview

Edge & Christian’s Pod of Awesomeness Recap

Episode 22 with Daniel Bryan 

Recap by: Jeff Indelicato 

DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD

“For The Benefit of Those with No Time” (Top Stories)

  • Edge gives some backstory into his 2008 SummerSlam match with the Undertaker.
  • The original name of Christian’s move, (The Unprettier) was originally a backstage joke made after listening to the group TLC.
  • Daniel Bryan feels that some of the top talents in the company are Aiden English, Chad Gable, and Luke Harper.
  • Bryan doesn’t get to watch Raw very much due to traveling on Mondays.
  • Bryan is continuing to work with brain specialists and is completing new treatments with the hope of eventually returning to the ring.

“You Think You Know Them” (Recap)

Ad for Morgan Spurlock’s Podcast 00:00 – 00:35

Opening Intros/SummerSlam/Q&A 0:35-51:25

The show opens with Edge chewing his food real loudly into the microphone. It’s the fans punishment for giving him trouble about his smoke detector regularly beeping throughout the last episode. The boys send out their well wishes to Ric Flair, who is currently experiencing serious health issues. Edge talks about his feud with Ric back in 2006, and how much fun it was to be a part of it. Christian recalls being on a tour with Flair, and Ric telling him, “I’ve watched all of your matches, and am blown away by your ability to make yourself and your opponent. If I was booking this show, you’d be the champion.” Christian really appreciated this, and never forgot it. They talk about how great Flair is, and hope he gets better soon.

Edge notes that it is SummerSlam this weekend, and talks about all of the great matches in the history of the event, from Mr. Perfect vs. Bret Hart in 1991, to Christian vs. Randy Orton in 2011, to the Hart Foundation vs. Demolition in 1990, and Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart in 1994. Edge says that if Shawn Michaels is Mr. WrestleMania, then Bret has got to be Mr. SummerSlam. Can’t disagree with that when you look at his history there, including the match against the Bulldog in 1992, his two matches against Doink & Jerry Lawler in 1993, and his match against the Undertaker in 1997 with Mr. WrestleMania as the special referee.  

Edge enjoyed his own matches there as well, and said that a fan recently tweeted him the fact that he and the Undertaker were the only guys to main event WrestleMania and SummerSlam in the same year, which was in 2008. If we’re talking show closers only as main events, then that is true; however, in 2003, Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle both main evented WrestleMania and SummerSlam for the WWE Championship. The Elimination Chamber match closed that show though. Moving on, Edge gives some backstory into that 2008 match. He had been planning out all of the details, which would include him having to get beat up and bleeding. 

Prior to the match, Vince instituted the “no blood” policy and told Edge that the new rules were to be enforced. This was the most disappointed that Edge had ever been regarding a decision, because in his mind, it was necessary after the culmination of a year-and-a-half storied feud. Vince told him however; “I trust you two to set the template for a Hell in a Cell match going forward.” Looking back, Edge believes that it was the right decision, and that they still got to tell the right story.

The night before the show, they were going over some of the spots, including where Taker would chokeslam Edge through the ring. The opening in the mat was smaller than Edge had anticipated, but Michael Hayes offered to take the slam first, and did! It was a tough bump, so Edge waited until the match happened to do it, but he recalls going through, landing on a small pad under the ring, and then having to scramble out of the way so that they could light the ring on fire. He then noticed that everyone else under the ring was wearing masks except for him, so he had to lay there coughing until he was able to get out of there.

E&C recently received some questions from fans asking their opinion on the blood bath that Bray Wyatt gave to Finn Balor last week, since it drew similarities to their time in The Brood. They both thought it was cool, and a nice little homage. Both mention that there’s nothing really original in wrestling as everything is borrowed, including the origins of the blood bath, as they took it from the Blade movie. They also thought that it’s been so long since it happened that it’s fresh again.

A similar question that they get a lot is how they feel when someone uses their moves, like Tyler Breeze using the Unprettier, which was Christian’s. To tie in to what they were referencing above, it’s cool. In fact, Tyler actually texted Christian to get his permission before using the move. It turns out that the Unprettier name was just a backstage joke between the boys. They were listening to some TLC, and since it didn’t have an official name, Christian made it up because it’ll make you feel unpretty after taking it. He was never a fan of the name, so when he returned in 2009, it was renamed to be the Killswitch. Edge remembers his match against Dolph Ziggler at the 2011 Royal Rumble, where his Spear was banned, and thanks to Christian, he ended up using the Killswitch instead.  

Ad for Harry’s Shaving Products 51:25 – 53:30

Interview with Daniel Bryan 53:30 – 2:34:00

After the break, we jump right into a phone interview with Daniel. They spend the first half hour of the interview talking about reading books, fatherhood, and nature, which leads to them joking how this is probably one of the most boring episodes for a wrestling fan. DB & Edge both have set goals to read one book a week, and they are doing great with accomplishing the task.

One of the books that Bryan has read has to do with the health benefits of being out in nature, which Edge believes in. Bryan tells a recent story of going on a hike with Brian Kendrick, who is known to be somewhat wild, and seeing him light up a cigarette in the middle of the hiking area! They all laugh at how Kendrick is, and that it’s never boring to be around him. With regards to fatherhood, Bryan talks about how great it is, and how stronger his bond is with Brie. She works hard as a mother, which helps him focus on taking care of Brie.

Talk finally moves towards the subject of professional wrestling, which E&C ask for DB’s take on the new wrestlers that are in other organizations. Bryan mentions Kenny Omega and Zack Sabre as ones that he likes to watch. He’s not just interested in the wrestlers, but also in how the business continues to evolve, specifically with regards to technology. Certain examples of this are obviously internet related, including the WWE Network, and the ability to go online and watch matches of all different organizations.

Bryan loves how wrestlers are able to use the internet and social media to market themselves, using the Young Bucks as examples. He tells a story about how the people from Hot Topic were around during WrestleMania week, and asked the WWE who they needed to talk to about selling Bullet Club shirts in their store, which obviously is not a WWE related item. In his mind, it’s the best time in history to be an independent wrestler, and also to be a fan because there’s so much product out.

Regarding some of the styles outside of the WWE, the question is asked if he thinks it would translate to a mass audience. He believes it can, but that the WWE is very character driven. He uses 205 Live as an example of how the wrestlers are doing some incredible stuff on the show, but from a consumer’s perspective, so is A.J. Styles, who is a main eventer, and has more of a character. If you want to stand out on your style alone, it will be difficult. You need to take that, and mold your personality to grow as a performer.

Recently, Bryan has been interested in a lot of older wrestling feuds, like Jerry Lawler vs. Nick Bockwinkel. He’s been contemplating, and trying to get back into wrestling, while using a much safer style, so his research into the older feuds is helping. He talks about how Lawler doesn’t need to wrestle, but does so because he loves it.  Rey Mysterio is then brought up as someone else who evolved his style over time. Bryan mentions Rey vs. Dean Malenko at the Great American Bash as the match that made him confident in his ability to move forward into becoming a pro wrestler.

Who on the current roster does Daniel think stands out? Aiden English is the first that comes to mind because of how his character is progressing with the singing. Christian adds that he would love to see Aiden act like his entire character was in a musical. Since Bryan travels on Mondays, he doesn’t get to watch much Raw, so most of his thoughts are predominately focused on SmackDown. He really likes Chad Gable, and references his recent match against Rusev as some of the best wrestling that he’s seen. He loved how they told a story throughout the match, and feels that he has a good character that they can develop. In all honesty, Bryan admits that he is enamored with a lot of the locker room, and all of them talk about how great Luke Harper is. At one time, Edge foresaw him as someone who could face the Undertaker at WrestleMania.

Talk moves into his retirement, and Bryan notes a recent conversation with Road Dogg where he was asked if he just sits and thinks about how incredible it was that he main evented WrestleMania. He thinks it was cool, but he also lives in the now. When he was a kid, he had a low immune system, and was always sick. The one thing that got him through it was wrestling, which is something that he still loves, and wants to continue doing.

Fans ask if he would support his daughter wrestling, and he doesn’t care what she does, as long as it’s something that makes her as happy. He notes that he is very happy, but he just wants to be in that ring. For him, it’s not anything related to unfinished business, but just a passion and enjoyment that he gets from performing. He recalls a conversation that he had with Vince around WrestleMania 30, where he was told that they wanted to push Roman Reigns to be the next John Cena.  Bryan told him that he supported that, but he also wanted to be the next Cena. In that aspect, he didn’t get to prove it, so it was a little disappointing.

They talk about his last concussion, and how he kept going for different testing, and was cleared by the doctors only for the WWE to continue to say no. It was then that he went for the experimental test, where he was told that he had a lesion on his brain. That’s what effectively ended his career, and Vince asked if he wanted to retire that Monday, since it was in Seattle. He initially didn’t want to do it, but considering the fact that his family and friends would be there, he felt that it was probably best.

From there he did some media and interviews, and one of the doctors that cleared him called, and wanted to know what happened. When Bryan explained, the doctor told him that “Lesion” in medical terms is vague, and all it can tell them is that something is there, but they don’t know what it is. This conversation led to them looking at the results, which reflected that his reflexes in the temporal region of his brain are slower than the average athlete, but close to the normal reflex time for the average person.

He talks about how tough retirement has been for him. Initially, he wanted to get away from wrestling. Shortly afterward, he was called and asked if he wanted to do commentary for the Cruiserweight Tournament, which he loved. Then he was told that he was going to be the SmackDown GM. For him, being around it every single week is tough. In addition, when he was wrestling, he didn’t enjoy doing promos and only got decent at it because that was his job. He mentions being at ringside during an A.J. Styles vs. Dean Ambrose match, and how it tore him apart.  

Because of his findings, and passion, he is continuing to working with other specialists, and take new treatments in order to help his brain. He has found that his brain is no worse than the average college football player’s brain. Because of these factors, he feels that there is no reason why he can’t return. However, he notes that if at any point, there was an indication that he couldn’t or shouldn’t wrestle, he wouldn’t continue. Being a good father and his health are more important.  

He mentions that people ask why he would even want to jeopardize this with having a daughter. He sees it as an opportunity to teach her that whatever your dream is, you can do it, and work hard to make them come true. He notes that he is still very fortunate, and laughs that he’s not opposed to the idea that people think he’s delusional. His further thoughts on the matter is that current concussion information is subjective, and not all of the research has been conclusive. He completely understands that the WWE is in a different position, and notes how supportive they’ve been of him. He won’t be putting any pressure on the company, but he wants to open up the discussion. He hopes to speak to kids to educate them on the concussions and the importance of communicating to others when you’re hurt, as he admits that he should have spoken up when he would encounter injuries, as it just leads to more damage. They wrap up the interview and thank Bryan for being on the show.

Wrap Up & Close 1:18:00-1:28:00

E&C close the show and talk about how genuine of a person Daniel is. Edge is relieved to know that Bryan won’t continue with wrestling if he gets further word that it’s still not a good idea, as he just wants him to be safe. They wrap up the show, and encourage everyone to follow the show on Twitter @EandCPod, E-Mail them at ecpodofawesomeness@gmail.com, and to call their Voicemail at 929-367-8204.

Jeff’s Take:  8 Kazoos out of 10

Good episode this week. They talked for a while, and didn’t cover really anything with regards to his wrestling career, so I hope to see a part 2 in the future. Obviously Bryan’s main thoughts right now are focused on possibly returning to the ring, so that took up a lot of the interview. For his sake, you hope that something in the health field can lead him to returning one day, but at the same time, you just want him to be safe. It’ll be interesting to see where Mr. Bryan is one year from now. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @the_Indel or send me an email at indelpw@gmail.com. See you next week!

“5 Second Pose of Timestamps”

0:00: Sponsored Ad
00:35: Show Introduction/SummerSlam Thoughts/Q&A
51:25: Sponsored Ads
53:30: Interview with Daniel Bryan
1:26:00: Thoughts on current independent wrestling
1:48:00: Some of DB’s favorite wrestlers right now
2:03:00: His concussion & Hopes for the future
2:34:00: Wrap Up & Close

About the Author

Jeff has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was knee high to a grasshopper (little kid), after coming across the Wrestling Challenge episode after WrestleMania 7, and has not looked back. His passion has led him to winning wrestling trivia contests in his city, and even won him his Senior Talent Show by dancing to Shawn Michaels theme song. When not annoying others with wrestling talk, he loves spending time with his family and friends, and focuses on his other passion: movies.

For more, check out last week’s recap of E&C Pod of Awesomeness with Drew McIntyre

 

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