Bryan Danielson On the Original Intent Behind Miz Segment on Talking Smack

Bryan Danielson and The Miz had a famous confrontation on Talking Smack back in 2016, and Danielson discussed the segment at Starrcast this weekend. The segment took place in August of that year and saw Danielson accuse Miz of wrestling “like a coward,” which resulted in Miz going off on Bryan staying in WWE at a time when the company wouldn’t clear him to wrestle. Danielson discussed the segment with Renee Paquette, who was the Talking Smack co-host, during a live episode of Pacquette’s The Sessions at Starrcast V on Saturday. You can see some highlights below, per Fightful:

On the intent behind the segment: “Miz was very frustrated. He was Intercontinental Champion and not on TV much. I was very frustrated that they weren’t clearing me to wrestle despite numerous doctors having cleared me to wrestle. I understand why, but that’s a long story. We came up with this thing and the original plan that Mike and I had come up with is, I was going to fucking deck him. We wanted to get under each other’s skin so much that it was plausible that I could legit be angry enough to punch him. That was the intent, that I was going to punch him. The idea was, either they’re are going to fire me or it’s going to make people want to see the match so much that they would have to clear me to wrestle.”

On how the segment played out: “Mike did such a great job; intuitively, I felt it was better to walk off and leave him. It was like, ‘God, this is so good, leave him with his heat.’ He was so good. He was magic. Mike and I don’t like each other, legitimately, but he’s somebody I respect a lot for working hard. When he was going off, I was like, ‘This is so good. It’d be so good if I punched him, but maybe it would resonate more and be better for him if I walked.’ So, that’s what happened. Everybody, including Maryse, was like, ‘why is this going on? What is happening?’ It would have been great television. It might have gotten canceled. I may have gotten fired. There would have been pluses and minuses.”

The Miz faced Logan Paul on Saturday at WWE Summerslam, while Danielson made his return to the ring from an injury at AEW Dynamite last week.