Daniel Bryan doesn't hold as much sway backstage as people seem to think.
Speaking with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Bryan commented on how fans will often credit him when something great happens on SmackDown, even though he usually has nothing to do with it. While yes, he does attend production meetings, Bryan uses whatever influence he has to champion other talents. He said the following:
“It’s interesting because, one, I don’t have that big of a say [laughs]. Sometimes something really great will happen on SmackDown and somebody will say ‘oh, that’s Daniel Bryan!’ Like, that’s not me!
We have incredible superstars. Cesaro is a no-brainer. When you say ‘Daniel Bryan helped Cesaro’ – no. All I did was ‘hey this guy is really good. We should put him on TV and use him!’ [laughs].
Apollo Crews, I don’t have anything to do with Apollo Crews stuff. He’s just great."
Bryan continued on to say that it is rewarding to see people you know taking full advantage of the opportunities they are given. He then credited William Regal as being a mentor. One of the things Regal told him is that being a mentor to a handful of people has been more rewarding than the actual wrestling. It's a matter of perspective and where you are in life. Bryan said the following:
“So yeah, there is something to that, the idea of helping people and from a human perspective we all want that. For a long time, when you’re young you’re like ‘I want to achieve this, I want to achieve this!’ but as you get older it’s ‘I want to help here, I want to help here’ and it’s just a different perspective."
Bryan is scheduled to compete for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 37 versus Roman Reigns and Edge. He was officially inserted into the match on the March 26 episode of WWE SmackDown.
