Bryan Danielson Discusses His Time Working In WWE Creative
Bryan Danielson has always been a creative person, but his time in WWE creative happened simply due to circumstance. Danielson joined Renee Paquette on a live "Sessions" panel during Starrcast V weekend, and the two talked extensively about the American Dragon's time in WWE.
"I loved the Performance Center with no ThunderDome," Danielson said. "Me and Drew Gulak, we're just doing wild stuff. I wrestled Claudio and we were just talking about that the other day. It was a lot of fun and I was a little bit a part of the creative team."
Danielson's creative opportunity came about thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was still ongoing as his wife Brie Bella, was pregnant with their son Buddy.
"Somebody in one of my segments had gotten COVID," Danielson said. "They called me and they said, 'Hey, you were in a segment with somebody who got COVID, a bunch of people in the segment got COVID, you might have COVID,' I tested, I didn't have COVID.'"
On the June 16, 2020 episode of "WWE SmackDown," Danielson was involved in a segment with AJ Styles and Paquette, hyping the Intercontinental Title tournament. On June 24, Paquette revealed on Twitter she tested positive for COVID, and at the June 26 set of tapings, Danielson and Styles did not appear. Paquette, along with several others who were regularly on the program, were also unavailable. Considering his pregnant wife, Danielson put in a request to take time off, which led to an opportunity for Danielson to remain active with WWE in a different role.
"Bruce Prichard called me and said, 'Hey, I know you're gone, but would you like to be a part of the creative team, be a part of the meetings and stuff like that,'" Danielson said. "And so I did that. I loved it. I know a lot of people have talked a lot of crap about writers."
"Oh, thankless job," Paquette said.
Danielson has noted in previous interviews that he sought advice from William Regal when taking on the creative role, mentioning some names on the writing team he loved working with, several of whom he isn't sure still work for WWE.
"Ryan Callahan who was one of, if not the lead SmackDown writer at the time," Danielson said. "We would talk about SmackDown sometimes on Monday. He's like, 'Hey, I'd like to run some ideas by you,' and we'd talk, but then we'd just talk afterwards. I love Ryan. I love dealing with Bruce Prichard. Like I know some people talk bad about Bruce. I love Bruce."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Sessions" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription