Bryan Danielson's WWE Career Is Forever Linked To This Unexpected Star

Across the first decade of his pro wrestling career, Bryan Danielson built a reputation as one of the best technical wrestlers in the industry, with his time in Ring of Honor making him a well-known name among fans. Though he had some experience working with WWE in the early 2000s, it wasn't until 2009 that the company signed Danielson to a full-time deal. In 2010, he debuted on the reality show version of "WWE NXT" under the name Daniel Bryan. This initial version of "NXT" had developmental stars each paired up with a main roster wrestler, and someone had the idea to pair up the technical-savvy Bryan with his complete opposite: The Miz.

Getting his start on reality TV show "The Real World" and some of its spin-offs, Mike "The Miz" Mizanin eventually appeared on the WWE reality series "Tough Enough" in 2004. This led to The Miz joining WWE, where he initially dealt with hazing from the locker room before eventually earning respect as an industry veteran. Back in 2010, however, when The Miz and Bryan were paired up on "NXT," Mizanin often excelled on the mic but had a reputation (at least among fans) for weak in-ring work. 

Though this might have bothered some viewers, Danielson was totally onboard for the pairing, and it wound up being the beginning of a long-term working relationship.

During an appearance on "Insight with Chris Van Vliet," Danielson recalled his experience on "NXT." Though he felt the show was quite low on the list of priorities in WWE, he saw it as an excellent opportunity for exposure and, without checking with WWE officials, changed his entire look to match how he believed a "rookie" might appear.

"I tried to look as generic as possible," Danielson said. "And me and Miz were collaborating on this stuff, some ideas. Miz was great about pitching ideas to the writers and all that kind of stuff. [The story was], 'Okay, I can't learn wrestling from Miz, but he's going to teach me to be a Superstar.' And me being frustrated, like, 'That's not important. The only thing that's important is the wrestling.'"

Although both Danielson and The Miz set out with this goal in mind, and felt it would be successful on TV, it didn't gain much traction with WWE's creative department. The storyline continued, but the company never really emphasized the elements that the two wrestlers had in mind.

"None of it ever happened, so I just looked like a nerd for no reason," Danielson stated.

Instead, Danielson was quickly eliminated from "NXT" but went on to wrestle and beat The Miz on an episode of "WWE Raw" for the United States Championship. Danielson would be fired from WWE shortly thereafter before being re-hired later that year, where he continued feuding with The Miz before both men moved on to other endeavors.

In the years after, Bryan and The Miz would continue to lock up on occasion, often in tag matches or at live events. The next substantial storyline between the two didn't begin until after Bryan was forced to retire due to accumulating neck injuries.

In 2016, while he was inactive, Bryan was made co-host of "Talking Smack," a post-show that was shown on the WWE Network after episodes of "WWE SmackDown," while also serving as the onscreen General Manager of the blue brand. When The Miz appeared as a guest on "Talking Smack," he and Bryan got into a heated exchange that many were convinced was at least somewhat real. However, the only genuine aspect was the frustration that both men felt about their position in the company, and the segments allowed them to get some of that off their chests in a productive manner.

"If they weren't going to clear me, I wanted my release," Danielson said on "Insight." "We came up with the idea ... and we didn't talk with anybody about it. It was just me and him. And we had talked about – 'Hey, is it okay if I say this?' 'Hey, is it okay if I say this?' 'Yeah. Let's do it.' And then at the end, I was going to punch him, like legit punch him."

Danielson has previously revealed that he would've been fine with getting fired from the incident, but he wound up deciding not to actually punch Mizanin, instead letting The Miz get to "win" the moment. Afterwards, both men felt it went off without a hitch, and the clip spread like wildfire on the internet. However, it did not move the needle in getting WWE to clear Danielson to wrestle, but it would happen eventually.

Though many fans bought into their onscreen interactions and believed that Danielson and Mizanin actively don't like each other, that isn't the case. During the interview, Danielson acknowledged that they get along well, though there are plenty of differences between the two.

"I always say in interviews that – 'Oh, me and Miz don't like each other,' or whatever it is, but I think I can drop the act and say I like him," Danielson said. "We created this story that's lasted ... since the time I started with WWE. ... We were always working together [but] we are very different personalities, so you can buy it."

Eventually, Danielson and The Miz did lock up again numerous times in WWE after Danielson came out of retirement in 2018. These days, Danielson has retired from full-time in-ring competition once again, and it's not clear if he'll ever wrestle another match. He does remain involved, doing commentary on "AEW Dynamite" each week.

Meanwhile, The Miz is still an active wrestler in WWE. For much of 2025, he was involved in a storyline on "SmackDown" with Carmelo Hayes before taking part in the Last Time Is Now tournament to decide John Cena's final opponent.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.