Former WWE executive talks about setting up "epic confrontation" between The Miz and Daniel Bryan
Former WWE Vice President of Global Television Production Michael Mansury has discussed his role in the infamous confrontation between The Miz and Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack.
The show aired on August 23, 2016, after an episode of SmackDown, which was produced by Mansury. The A-Lister and The American Dragon got into a heated argument, which saw the latter storm out of the set, which infuriated the former even more. It left many people wondering whether the angle was a work or a shoot.
During a recent appearance on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Michael Mansury reflected on the segment and how they chose to amplify it instead of ending the show immediately.
"It’s funny, you always hear people talk about The Miz and Bryan’s interaction [on Talking Smack]. The one episode where Bryan got hot and walked off. If Mike is talking about how he’s underutilized, abused by the system, etcetera, let’s amplify it, so you didn’t even wrap him up, you literally just did your sign-in to the camera and we faded out and he’s still on his harangue about being misused."
He added that the confrontation came off as organic.
"You could argue that a lot of Mike’s frustrations at the time were legitimately coming out on the air and he had every right to be, right?... There was just something so organic about Talking Smack," said Mansury. [H/T POST Wrestling]
Intercontinental Champ @MikeTheMiz confronts #SDLive GM @WWEDanielBryan, looking for an apology on #TalkingSmack. #WWETLC https://t.co/6lLkU5yyxi
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Was The Miz and Daniel Bryan's confrontation scripted or a shoot?
At the time of the aforementioned episode of Talking Smack, the two stars had been rivals for many years. Their animosity dated all the way back to their time in the original NXT, where The A-Lister was Daniel Bryan's pro.
During the Talking Smack segment, The Miz was the Intercontinental Champion at the time, and he seemingly wasn't happy with the way he was being used.
He told FOX Sports' Wrestling Compadres that the confrontation wasn't a work and that he had just blacked out.
"So I told them [WWE] to put me on 'Talking Smack.' They asked, 'Well what are you going to do?' And I said I'm going to rip into Daniel Bryan, and then I guess I kind of went overboard. And when I go, I have no filter. It's everything that is fueling inside of me and I just black out," said Miz.
"You wrestle like a COWARD!"
"Why don't you just QUIT and go to the BINGO HALLS?"
"You're the ONE that WALKS AWAY! YOU'RE THE COWARD!"
#TalkingSmack really lived up to its name that night. #SDLive @mikethemiz @WWEDanielBryan https://t.co/lMY8De0Y5K
During the segment, The Miz told Bryan to leave WWE and go to the bingo halls. A few years later, the latter would do that by leaving the company and signing with AEW. He is currently known as Bryan Danielson in the promotion.
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