Bryan Danielson has opened up about working with The Miz, revealing that the pair legitimately don’t like each other.
During an appearance at Starrcast V on a special episode of The Sessions Bryan Danielson and Renee Paquette reminisced about their time working together on Talking Smack.
The show debuted in August 2016 and quickly developed a cult following among WWE fans, before being cancelled in July 2017. The show constantly blurred the lines between reality and fiction, and gave fans a glimpse behind the curtain.
One of the most famous moments on the show was a spectacular verbal showdown between The Miz and Danielson which ended with the now-AEW star storming off set.
Speaking at Starrcast, Danielson lifted the lid on the original plan for the segment, a plan which would have seen him punch his rival in the face.
“Miz was very frustrated, he was Intercontinental Champion and wasn’t on TV much. I was very frustrated that they weren’t clearing me to wrestle, despite numerous doctors having cleared me to wrestle.
So we came up with this thing and the original plan that Mike and I came up with was that I was going to f*cking deck him. We wanted to get under each other’s skin so much that it would be plausible, that I would legit be angry enough to punch him. That was the intent, and I was gonna punch him. The idea was either they were gonna fire me or it’s gonna make people wanna see the match so much that they’re gonna have to clear me to wrestle.
But then Mike did such a great job, intuitively I thought it was better to walk off. It was also like ‘This is so good, leave him with his heat.’
In closing, Danielson openly admitted that he and Miz don’t like each other, but despite this, he has a lot of respect for the former WWE Champion.
“Mike and I don’t like each other legitimately. But Mike is also somebody that I respect a lot for working very, very hard.”
Elsewhere during the conversation about Talking Smack, the American Dragon also admitted that the motivation behind his antics on the show was a desire to get fired.
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