5 WWE Superstars who Daniel Bryan is close friends with
Daniel Bryan competed all over the world during his 16-year career as a pro wrestler, from PWG and ROH to NXT and WWE, so it’s no surprise that he’s made a few acquaintances along the way.
The former World Heavyweight champion’s in-ring personalities ranged from obnoxious irritant to loveable underdog, but you only have to watch him in media interviews or on Total Bellas to see what a laid-back, humble guy he is in real life.
In this article, with honourable mentions going to Seth Rollins, Luke Harper and future brother-in-law John Cena, we look at five WWE Superstars who Bryan is close friends with outside of the squared circle.
#1 Brian Kendrick
Back in 1999, an 18-year-old Daniel Bryan, real name Bryan Danielson, began training at the Texas Wrestling Academy (TWA), run by Rudy Boy Gonzalez and WWE legend Shawn Michaels.
It was there where he had his very first match as a pro wrestler against Brian Kendrick, now a veteran of the 205 Live roster and a former Cruiserweight champion, and the two have been close friends ever since.
The WWE Universe bore witness to their real-life friendship in 2016 when Kendrick’s losing effort to Kota Ibushi in the quarter-finals of the Cruiserweight Classic moved colour commentator Bryan to tears.
Kendrick told talkSPORT in September 2016 that he credits Bryan with teaching him about different styles of wrestling, most notably Japanese, and said his former tag partner “really broadened my horizons and opened my eyes to what wrestling could really be”.