WWE champion Daniel Bryan on his rejuvenation, recent frustrations and the future of pure babyfaces

Bryan is back in the main event and completely refreshed following a major character change

Just nine weeks into his fourth run as WWE champion, Daniel Bryan is clearly rejuvenated. Not only is Bryan back at the top of his profession 10 months after returning to the squared circle following a near-three year absence, he is currently embodying one of the freshest and most unique characters WWE has put forth in quite some time, one that has been nearly all his own doing after a sudden decision made by chairman Vince McMahon back on Nov. 13, 2018.

"You have to understand that this was a day-of decision, me being the bad guy was a day-of decision," Bryan told our State of Combat podcast (listen and subscribe here) regarding his dramatic turn in a WWE championship match that day against AJ Styles. 

With the referee looking away, Bryan turned heel on Styles, hitting him with a low blow before nailing with a running knee to earn the 1-2-3. In getting the shocking pinfall on SmackDown Live, he regained the company's most prestigious title, one he vacated on June 9, 2014, due to a neck injury. 

Since Bryan's return to the ring last March -- WWE doctors finally cleared him after years of neurological testing -- he had been working as the same underdog babyface character fans remembered from his last run. That worked initially in a WrestleMania 34 tag team match with Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, but while the crowd continued to react positively to Bryan months later, something just did not feel right.

In a word, Bryan and the "Yes! Movement" had become stale.

"I had kind of been thinking about [turning heel] because I had been doing stuff with the Miz and I started to realize, hey, the tide is turning on this role, the whole thing of me being a good guy. And eventually, people are going to get tired of me in the same way people began booing John Cena and all that kind of stuff," Bryan explained. "The tide is going to turn on this, and eventually, I'm just going to be another good guy shoved down people's throats to a chorus of boos. … That's the last thing I wanted to happen."

Though Bryan had reportedly been suggesting to McMahon and the creative team that he turn heel for a short while, he said there was no indication prior to arriving in the arena for the evening's TV tapings that it was going to happen that day.

And he certainly did not know what would the so-called "new Daniel Bryan" would become more than two months later.

"I get there the day of, things are happening, and it's a day-of decision. After that, it's like, wow, I get a completely clean slate to do whatever I want now. Not whatever I want now -- I have to get the company to agree to it [laughing] -- but this is my opportunity," he said.

"I had reenvisioned and reimagined the way that I wanted to wrestle and all that kind of stuff; as I age, I really reimagined the way I wanted to wrestle, characters I wanted to be, stories I wanted to tell and that kind of stuff. This is my opportunity to do all of that."

Bryan's "new" character began as a traditional heel, one who decided to take an advantage of an opportunity to do something for the betterment of his career -- in this case, recapturing the WWE title. But it quickly developed into something more.

A practicing environmentalist, conservationist and vegetarian -- more on that in a minute -- Bryan does not preach or force his lifestyle on others despite being outspoken about his passions. His "new" character is the opposite -- a preachy, demanding and self-indulgent savior of the planet who finds fault with everything others do while imagining himself a perfectionist.

"A lot of the things the character Daniel Bryan says are a lot of things I think -- not about other people but actually about myself," Bryan admitted. "… It's using that mindset to tell people they're the problem while fully knowing I'm also the problem."

Bryan is critical of himself for general waste and a recent slide from veganism into vegetarianism. He is able to use those internal criticisms to fuel his character, lashing out on others for transgressions like wearing new clothes or eating hot dogs.

"It's actually been really fun because the character itself has evolved since the turn happened because it's looking to see what's working and what doesn't work," Bryan explained. "… That whole process is still fun and engaging for me. That's what really gets me excited."

The turn is clearly working. For a fan favorite like Bryan to get heavily booed is a difficult ask, but it's exactly what happens now when his music hits and he steps in the ring. And while one might think that would bother a wrestler, Bryan loves it because it is allowing him to be creative and suppressing the frustration he felt upon his return.

"When I came back, there was such an expectation of people wanting me to be the old Daniel Bryan -- they want the 'Yes!' chant and the same moves that we got before. … Those kind of expectations, the weight of that can sometimes just crush you and the expectations you have on yourself," he said. "Doing what I'm doing now has really opened me up because wrestling has always been my creative outlet. To go out there and do wrestling how I want to do wrestling as opposed to meeting others' expectations, I felt like the old Daniel Bryan was getting pretty stagnant and a little bit stale. It was the same character it was in 2014. This is a completely new Daniel Bryan, which it why it's the 'new Daniel Bryan.'"

He continued: "It was almost like we were telling the same story that had already been told. This is a completely new story. And also, one of the things I really love about the art form of professional wrestling is it's the same thing -- sometimes it happens in comic books, sometimes it doesn't -- but the ability for characters to evolve. Sometimes characters don't evolve and they're the same year after year. That's never been my interest. Since 2002, I've really been interested in character development, the evolution of characters and why those things would happen. I had been a little bit frustrated at the lack of evolution in my character. This changing dynamic has really stimulated me mentally."

Stimulating fans these days is Bryan's return to the main event picture. Bryan, who said he feels like the best he's ever been, is enjoying his return to the top even though it did take some time to get used to the constant stresses of travelling.

Now that he's back, he's focused on the aforementioned character development and running through a list of dream matches that both he and the fans want to see. That starts on Sunday in the 2019 Royal Rumble when he defends his WWE championship against AJ Styles.

"When I was out, when I was the general manager and not allowed to wrestle, I was salivating at the idea of wrestling AJ Styles. And now that it's here -- and we've wrestled a couple of times already -- this being in front of a big crowd at a baseball stadium, I'm very excited," he said.

Once Styles is out of the way, Bryan has his eyes on the rest of the WWE roster, whether on Raw or SmackDown or in NXT or 205 Live. Asked to name 2-3 wrestlers he wanted to work programs with going forward, Bryan listed six off the top of his head -- Brian Kendrick, Cesaro, Andrade, Rey Mysterio (in a mask vs. hair match), Gran Metalik and Ricochet -- but joked he could have gone on forever.

 "You start running this gamut of people because WWE has signed such incredible performers in the last several years. We have so many talented people on the roster that it's impossible to just name a couple," he said.

As far as the future of the "new" Daniel Bryan goes, that remains to be seen. A title run into or through WrestleMania 35 in New York seems like a legitimate possibility, and Bryan feels like he's just scratching the surface of his heel persona.

The longer that succeeds, the sweeter an eventual face turn will be when it ultimately commences. And while some may believe the era of the pure babyface is long gone, Bryan thinks it is something that can still get over with fans in a major way -- as long as it is booked correctly.

"I think 100 percent there is a place for it, but it has to be presented in the right way. A good guy, a 'white-meat babyface' as you're talking about -- can't be presented as a loser or a dork or somebody who, any time an authority figure [threatens to fire them], they hang their head. No. If you want a good character that people like, and he has something that he believes in … [they would respond], 'Fire me, fine, but guess what, I'm great at what I do, I can go get a good job somewhere else.'

"Presenting those kind of characters, it's still a white-meat babyface character in that sort of sense. But you have to present it properly. I don't think it's impossible, I just think a lot of times we just don't present it in the best way possible."

Bryan's presentation is unquestioned at this point, and it will be a focal point of the Royal Rumble this Sunday. The event begins with a kickoff show at 5 p.m. ET before the main card begins at 7 p.m. ET. The 2019 Royal Rumble will stream live worldwide on WWE Network.

Listen to the complete Daniel Bryan interview on the State of Combat with Brian Campbell podcast. There is also an interview with Matt Riddle to enjoy. We will be back with instant analysis of the Royal Rumble on Sunday.