Daniel Bryan: "I Want To Be More Hated Than Brock Lesnar"
WWE Champion is well on the way to doing that...
Daniel Bryan's work as a heel outshines his work as a babyface - and considering his work as a babyface hasn't been bettered by anyone other than maybe Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock over the past 25 or so, that's a pretty big statement I've made there.
Bryan's match with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2018 was an absolute masterpiece - both in terms of the action between the ropes, and the way in which Daniel Bryan was able to keep his heat even though most people would have to admit that they wanted to see The New DB upset The Beast.
Daniel has been talking about the dynamics of that matchup, and working as a heel in general with Newsweek recently, and here's what he had to say: "...I want to be the most hated guy in the company. I want to be more hated than Brock Lesnar.
"Some people want to cheer for the bad guy. I don’t want them to cheer, I want to be hated. So far I’ve had two jumpers at live events [laughs] and that’s an old school kind of mentality. You don’t want those guys to jump but you want them to hate you. You want them to pay to see you get beat. Or pay to see you get beat up or at the very least enjoy seeing you get beat up. That’s my thing.
"I look at professional wrestling as a martial art, almost. But if you’re looking at martial arts, MMA is the most martial aspect of it, professional wrestling is the most artistic aspect of it. And so this is my performance art. When I do other martial arts I do them to be better at my performance art. Creating those kind of narratives is something I think about a lot. People think of wrestling they don’t see it as a performance art or something that is very nuance or have that kind of depth to it. It doesn’t have to, but I don’t mind having that depth."
Bryan's match with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2018 was an absolute masterpiece - both in terms of the action between the ropes, and the way in which Daniel Bryan was able to keep his heat even though most people would have to admit that they wanted to see The New DB upset The Beast.
Daniel has been talking about the dynamics of that matchup, and working as a heel in general with Newsweek recently, and here's what he had to say: "...I want to be the most hated guy in the company. I want to be more hated than Brock Lesnar.
"Some people want to cheer for the bad guy. I don’t want them to cheer, I want to be hated. So far I’ve had two jumpers at live events [laughs] and that’s an old school kind of mentality. You don’t want those guys to jump but you want them to hate you. You want them to pay to see you get beat. Or pay to see you get beat up or at the very least enjoy seeing you get beat up. That’s my thing.
"I look at professional wrestling as a martial art, almost. But if you’re looking at martial arts, MMA is the most martial aspect of it, professional wrestling is the most artistic aspect of it. And so this is my performance art. When I do other martial arts I do them to be better at my performance art. Creating those kind of narratives is something I think about a lot. People think of wrestling they don’t see it as a performance art or something that is very nuance or have that kind of depth to it. It doesn’t have to, but I don’t mind having that depth."
Written by Ross Tweddell
Written and video journalist for Cultaholic Wrestling | twitter: @rossonrasslin | instagram: @rossonrasslin
