Daniel Bryan Addresses His WWE Future, Wrestling for Other Companies

Daniel Bryan has made it abundantly clear that his days of wrestling full-time in the WWE are numbered in his numerous interviews over the past year. But what his next role in the wrestling business will be still remains unclear. During a fan meet-and-greet prior to WrestleMania 37, Bryan hinted at trying to stay under contract with WWE but also appear in other promotions. Having that kind of deal is incredibly rare for someone under the WWE umbrella, but the former WWE Champion stated with a laugh (via Fightful) “It’d be interesting if I could wrestle in different companies and WWE. That’s something I’m trying to weasel my way into right now.” He also emphasized that he never wants to fully stop wrestling.

But in an interview with BT Sport this week, Bryan admitted to feeling an odd disconnection moments before his Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 37 against both Roman Reigns and Edge.

“It was really bizarre. Just really, really bizarre…,” Bryan said. “It’s taken me, it’s been nine days now since it happened, and it’s taken me time to fully process what the experience was like because it wasn’t like a normal thing. It was really weird. I felt very – like out of body in it. It was so weird. When I’m wrestling, I feel everything and I feel like I’m really enjoying it,” he continued. “Like I’m out there and I’m like ‘Gosh,’ having fun. This was weird, I was out there and it was almost like I felt like I was detached. And I was out there, and it was so strange, in fact, that before the match started, I got this really weird feeling, I was like, ‘Oh no, is this what it’s like right before you die? Am I going to die? [laughs] I mean. huh, well, okay.’ I was like, if that happens it happens. [laughs]. It was just a really bizarre feeling. I don’t know why or how that happened, but it was unlike pretty much anything I’ve felt while wrestling before.”

“I’m not a big believer in signs,” he continued. “Most people think of me as like this hippie-dippie kind of thing because I’m an environmentalist, but I’m really not. I really love science and reality-based things. So it was interesting, it was like maybe it’s a sign that this is the time to let go of being a full-time wrestler, which is kind of what I’ve been thinking for a while. When I first started training, Shawn Michaels said, ‘The second that you don’t get nervous right before you go out, that’s when you need to retire.’ And I don’t necessarily believe that, because for a long time I haven’t gotten nervous before I go out. I’m excited because it’s fun. But the odd detachment was like, ‘Woah, maybe it’s’ – like I said, I’m either gonna die [laughs] or maybe this is just a sign that this isn’t the same type of fulfilling that it was before. It’s interesting. I’ve been trying to – I just said I wasn’t hippie-dippie, right? – I’ve been trying to meditate on it [laughs] and talk to my friends that I’m close with like ‘Hey, what is that?’” he added.