There are few people in pro wrestling more beloved than Daniel Bryan. The current Smackdown general manager finds ways to keep busy when he’s not on television, other than appearing on his OTHER television show, Total Divas.
Bryan is also currently on a one-man quest to make the world believe that he’s going to return to the ring next year, by hook or by crook. He talks about his desire to wrestle again in pretty much every interview or appearance he makes, and keeps name-dropping people he wants to get in the ring with, from AJ Styles to Shinsuke Nakamura. Although he’s made it clear that he is willing to leave WWE if they won’t clear him to wrestle, he’s recently said that there’s a small chance WWE might relent someday if all the pieces fall into place.
The reason fans are champing at the bit to see Bryan return to action is because for the majority of his career (most of which took place outside of WWE, as Bryan Danielson), he was known as one of the best wrestlers in the world, if not the best. He won Wrestling Observer Newsletter‘s “Most Outstanding Wrestler” award every year from 2006-2010, and “Best Technical Wrestler” every year from 2005 to 2013. That’s such a stretch of dominance that the award is actually now officially called the Bryan Danielson Award.
While Bryan was at the peak of his ability, a fortuitous few wrestlers were lucky enough to be able to train under him at the Ring of Honor Wrestling Academy. He took over head trainer duties from Austin Aries in 2005 while still the reigning ROH World Champion, and held the position until 2007, when Delirious took over.
One of the wrestlers who got to train under Bryan is former ROH Tag Team Champion Rhett Titus, and apparently sitting under Bryan’s learning tree was no bed of roses (if I may mix plant metaphors). In a recent interview with Interactive Wrestling Radio, Titus explained what a strict teacher Bryan could be, and how there was a steep learning curve going from Aries to Danielson.
“Going from training with [Austin] Aries to Brian Danielson was a bit of a change. Aries was a more laid back trainer. He said, ‘I’m not here to be your personal trainer. I’m here to be your wrestling trainer.’ I thought that was very cool. Aries was a little more laid back. If you were a few minutes late, don’t worry about it. Bryan, on the other hand … every day before practice, we had to do tons of hindu squats, tons of pushups, tons of everything. And then, we’d learn a little bit of wrestling. I respect wrestling, obviously, and having to pay your dues. I would push myself in the gym and then would have to come and do all these extra squats. Especially on leg day, that was killing me!
“Bryan was also very strict. Practice would start at five o’clock! I was coming from work at that time. It was about an hour and a half from work. If I missed one traffic light, I was going to be late. If I was late, I would always have to do extra squats, extra push ups, extra run the ropes. Extra everything!
“I remember one day [laughs] I was running a little late. ‘Ah man, I don’t think I’m gonna make it!’ So, I put my boots on in the car. I pulled up to the school at 4:58. I went running upstairs in the school and at 4:59 with about 10 seconds to spare, I hopped into the ring. He was like, ‘Made it on time?’ So we started. And Bryan was like, ‘Who the hell dragged mud into my ring?’ Everyone was looking at the bottom of their feet and no one had mud. I look at the bottom of my feet, and of course, I’m the one with mud. So, I had to do extra squats, extra push ups, extra run the ropes … even though I was on time! [laughs]
“I came to grips with the idea that I was going to have to do a little bit more than everyone else. In the end, it made me appreciate everything a little bit more. If you ever see me and I’m being hard on a young guy, you know why!”
While Daniel Bryan is a supreme goofball, he’s always taken pro wrestling more seriously than anything else. It probably wasn’t a lot of fun to be his student, but very few can say they were trained by one of the best of all time.
