Bryan Danielson Reveals Original Plans Of Infamous Talking Smack Exchange

Bryan Danielson could have gotten fired for a planned incident on "WWE Talking Smack," but it absolutely would have made for good television. Danielson was in Nashville, Tennessee for Starrcast weekend and participated in a live panel with Renee Paquette for fans in attendance. The audio eventually aired as this week's episode of "The Sessions" and the American Dragon happened to cover a lot of his tenure in WWE.

Paquette and Danielson were a dynamic duo on "Talking Smack" together and the two shared a lot of memorable moments on the program until it ended. One that certainly stands out is the tense confrontation between Danielson and The Miz in August 2016. Miz was the WWE Intercontinental Champion at the time and Danielson was retired from in-ring competition. Both were frustrated with their respective situations as Danielson was cleared by several doctors to compete again and Miz wasn't being positioned in a manner he felt was appropriate as champion. The two decided to take matters into their own hands.

"The original plan that Mike and I had come up with was that I was gonna f-ckin' deck him," Danielson said. "We wanted to get under each other's skin so much, that it was plausible that I would legit be angry enough to punch him and so that was the intent. And the idea was either [they] were going to fire me or it was going to make people want to see the match so much that they're going to have to clear me to wrestle, but then Mike did such a great job, intuitively I felt it was better to walk off."

Bryan said that the reason he did that was because he wanted to leave Miz with his heat. Miz stated in an interview in 2021 that he blacked out during the on-air exchange because things got so intense.

"He was so good, he was magic. He was magic and I think that's the thing. Mike and I don't like each other, legitimately, but Mike is also somebody that I respected for working very, very hard and so when he was just going off and I was like, 'This is so good, it would be so good if I punched him, but maybe it would resonate more and it would be better for him if I walked off.' So that's what happened and everybody, including Maryse, was like, 'What is going on? Why is this happening?'"

Danielson and Miz have a history all the way back to when Danielson debuted as an "NXT Rookie" and his "coach" for the competition happened to be Miz. The two had an on-screen rivalry to make the "Talking Smack" seem all the more legitimate and Paquette was caught right in the crossfire.

"If you actually physically attacked him, yeah, I would have passed out on the desk so I guess thanks for that? But it would have been good television too," she said.

"It would have been great television, but I might have gotten fired," Danielson added. "I don't know, there would have been plusses and minuses."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Sessions with Renee Paquette with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.