Daniel Bryan has been a firm fixture of WWE’s roster for years at this point, but the Superstar made a name for himself wrestling worldwide on the independent scene.
Bryan recently reflected on his time on the indies, highlighting what he misses about that scene and lifestyle in an interview with Super Luchas. He also discussed which luchadors he would like to compete in WWE.
Regarding the indie scene, Bryan admitted that he misses it—in particular getting the opportunity to wrestle against different people across the globe.
“Yes … I really miss all that,” Bryan confessed. “And one of the things I miss is fighting with different people. Being independent, you can fight with people you’ve never faced before, and that’s something I like. For example, on SmackDown, I struggled with Buddy Murphy, and I was very excited because I had never fought him. As an independent fighter, my mind was always working. ‘I don’t know who this guy is, I don’t know what he does, I’ve never been in this arena.’ I like those experiences.”
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When it comes to naming which luchadors he would love to see in WWE, Bryan admitted that it was difficult to choose as many of his favorites are now too old.
“I could say: ‘Wait a minute, I want Negro Casas in WWE’ or something, because I love Blue Panther, I love Negro Casas,” he said. “The first time I saw a fight of his was about 1987, but he is amazing. In 2019 he is still impressive. Then I have a lot of respect for them, but thinking about who could do it now in WWE, I could tell someone like Rush. I think Bandido would do it big; also, Dragon Lee could succeed.”
Despite recognizing their talent, he also stressed that WWE is loaded with top lucha talent. He name-dropped Andrade and Gran Metalik, calling both “fantastic.”
