Daniel Bryan Talks Wanting Brand Split, Which Title Should Be On SmackDown, Cesaro, More
On episode 40 of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, Roberts interviewed WWE's Daniel Bryan. Among other topics, Bryan talked about his preference for separate RAW and Smackdown rosters. Also, Bryan revealed his plans for the Intercontinental Championship before his reign was cut short due to injury.
When asked whether Bryan would prefer a brand split, he replied, "yes, I would much rather there have a brand split."
"One of the things I wanted to do when I came back [from injury], was do something with the Intercontinental Championship. And my big spiel, my big pitch for this thing, like, I want to be the Intercontinental Champion and I only want to be on Smackdown. I don't want to be on RAW. I want to be on Smackdown because one of my things was I would never have gotten this opportunity if there wasn't split brands, if there wasn't two [world] titles. If there was just the one main title, [WWE] would never, ever given me the opportunity."
Bryan indicated that the Intercontinental Championship could be the main title on Smackdown while the WWE World Heavyweight Championship could be used on RAW. According to Bryan, the Intercontinental Title picture would become "what it was when I was a kid, where it was like I was every bit as excited to see the Intercontinental Title match as I was the World Title match."
Bryan claimed that a brand split would create more opportunities for talent and that one of his goals in coming back from injury would be to help "elevate other people".
"I knew coming back from my neck surgery that I was not going to be the top good guy, as far as the booking is concerned. I'm not talking about popularity, as far as placement of people. And one of the things that really can hurt you is that if people see you as that and people want you to be that and you're not that, is that they can take it out on other people. Right? Like, taking it out on somebody like Roman [Reigns] when [WWE] are trying to push him and that sort of thing." Bryan added, "if you put [Roman Reigns] and I on different shows, then it's better for him and it's better for me."
"Right now, [WWE] are not going to put Cesaro in a WWE World Heavyweight Championship program with Seth Rollins. I mean, [WWE] might, but I don't think [WWE] will though. [WWE] would do that with [Cesaro] and me and the Intercontinental Championship and it might not be the main event of pay per views, but if it carries Smackdown, if that's the main story on Smackdown, it can show everybody, like, I think WWE doesn't think people are capable of some of this kind of stuff. I don't think [WWE] thought I was capable of carrying that kind of stuff until [WWE] gave me the opportunity and it turns out I was. And until you give them the opportunities, give somebody like Cesaro an opportunity to do that and show that he can do it, you know, like, that was part of my thing too. People like Cesaro, people like Cody Rhodes, you know, people like Ryback. Give them these opportunities to carry a show like they carry a program and it would just be good for everybody, and, not only that, good for morale, I was hoping. Like, I have all these greater things. I want everyone to be happy at work. I want us all to enjoy it and be like, 'hey, if I work hard and if I'm good and if I get good crowd reactions, I am going to get further'."
During the interview, Bryan discussed many topics including his recent concussion and his new book, Yes!: My Improbably Journey to the Main Event of WrestleMania. You can check out the whole interview here.
Source: Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast