As WWE announces the dates for the day, Riya Sharma catches up with the man, Daniel Bryan, behind the Yes! Movement
While growing up, who hasn’t threatened their siblings by delivering Undertaker’s chokeslam. Whether it involved the unreasonable fights that we all witnessed in our schools or the signature body slam that we imitated on our pillows, who doesn’t know about World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)IJ
Shot to fame with WWF, wrestler Bryan lloyd Danielson, better known by his ring name, Daniel Bryan was in the city to announce the launch of the forthcoming event, WWE live in January. “Before joining WWE, I wrestled for 10 years and travelled all over the world. I loved that. But with WWE, I travelled to a lot of new places like coming to India, South America et al. With this profession, what matters is the reaction of the fans all over,” he shared.
As the wrestler has been there since it was WWF, he told us about the subtle changes that has come about between WWF to WWEIJ “It’s mostly a corporate thing. The changes that have evolved with time are mainly in terms of what our fans want. If you watch the product now, it is entirely different from what were doing in 2001. It has become more family friendly now. Earlier, it was more about cussing and beer drinking, now we do what our fans and sponsors want,” he said.
The wrestler who is not in his best shape has been suggested rest by doctors. So would it be a miss for his Indian fans for the live event happening on January 15-16IJ He commented, “Even if I don’t fight, I would want to be part of the event.”
Talking about his journey with WWE, he shared, “We have wrestling schools in the US. So, it is like learning to be a clown (laughs). I graduated high school and decided I want to be a wrestler. It is like, being in a band — you wrestle in front of nobody and then you earn a name for yourself, and eventually people start liking you. Ten years later, I signed an agreement with WWE.”
But he shared that the rewarding part for him is wrestling. “I like going out there, and wrestling in front of my fans. That gives you a feeling of being real and affirmative.” he said.
The wrestler, who was nothing close to his television presence shared that people at first are afraid of him. “They have seen me on TV. They think ‘Oh, because he is on TV, he is different from me.’ But when we start talking, they realise we are not different. We are just the same, this is the illusion of television. People think that we are bigger stars and are more important than them but that is not true. I met 12-15 young women yesterday and all of them spoke two languages, I speak one. So, if you look at it, am I smarter than themIJ No. The only difference that I can find is in terms of the available opportunities. TV creates a bigger divide, but I am literally, nobody special. We all are good in our things, its just that my work took me on TV,” he stressed out.
One who follows WWE knows how things change in the ring. One moment, a wrestler would be winning and the other moment, anyone would come and just change the entire game. Does that bother the wrestlerIJ “No, if you get upset by twists and turns of the game then you are not going to last in WWE for long. With my career, I have accepted things as they come and leave the rest,” signed off the big man.
photo Sanjeev Kumar