Bryan Danielson Said He’d Still Be Retired If WWE Didn’t Make Him Smackdown General Manager

In an interview with WEEI 93.7 FM in Boston (via Fightful), Bryan Danielson noted that if WWE hadn’t made him the Smackdown general manager, he might still be retired. He said that being a part of wrestling without actually wrestling gave him the desire to get in the ring again.

He said: “It was really hard because I think I would still be retired if WWE didn’t have me come back and be the general manager. I really love wrestling and I didn’t want to have to retire, I was forced to retire. They brought me in as a general manager and I was around it every single week. I think I would have gone off and started my own little organic farm or something. I would have been like, ‘Okay, I had a great time wrestling, but now I’ve transitioned into this other part of my life,’ but being around it but not actually being able to do the thing I love was really really hard. Then I started doing all these different medical treatments that are a little bit out there and a little bit wild and a couple of years later I ended up getting cleared. My passion for wrestling is so deep that if you put me around it too long, I will want to get in there.“