Daniel Bryan Talks About How He Prepared For His Return

Daniel Bryan recently spoke with Jonathan Snowden of Bleacher Report to promote this week’s WWE SmackDown. Below are some highlights:

After a lot of uncertainty, what led to him being cleared to return:

I saw a naturopath who works with Carson Palmer, a quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals who was having a horrible shoulder problem. He could barely even pick up a football. Then, all of a sudden, he was able to play. That’s because he saw this guy in Denver who does something called “Muscle Activation Technique.” And so I went and saw that guy, and for the first time in months, after just one visit, I had strength in my arm.

Preparing to return:

I’ve been doing a lot of jiu-jitsu and kickboxing. To me, that’s what transfers over best to wrestling. Because what we do is a lot of up and down, right? It’s a lot of falling, it’s a lot of getting up. It’s a lot of jumping. But there is a saying that goes a little something like this: “Nothing prepares you for wrestling like wrestling.” If you get on a treadmill and say, “Oh, I can run 20 minutes and 10 miles per hour,” that’s not the same as going out and doing an eight-minute match.

Returning and still being at the top, the focus of SmackDown moving to Thursday:

It’s pretty crazy to me, this whole thing with the “Yes Movement.” A lot of it is just luck. Why did the people choose me? As opposed to choosing Cesaro, or choosing Dolph [Ziggler], or any number of the great superstars we have in WWE? For some reason, they specifically got behind me. And they’ve been with me for this entire time. Even during this time off.