Over the past few months, Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak have gone from respected rivals to training partners on WWE SmackDown.
Speaking to Newsweek, Gulak discussed Bryan's influence on him and others on SmackDown.
"He's awesome. He's a really great person. Super passionate about wrestling. If there's anyone who is as passionate as me about wrestling it's him. We can talk about it non-stop and our passion never wavers. Someone like AJ Styles I feel like his passion is kind of wavering, which is the dichotomy of the two people. It's been great working with Bryan," he said.
Gulak continued, discussing Bryan being complimentary of 205 Live in the past, "It means a lot to the locker room in general. Daniel, even though he's been at the top ever since I started wrestling, much like AJ Styles, he understands that people with opportunities really come down to timing more than everything. [Bryan] had to sit there and watch as opportunities passed a lot of people by. He talks about a wrestler named Jack Collier who he grew up on the scene with and his opportunity passed him by even though he feels he would have been just as successful if he'd been given the same opportunities as Bryan.
"When Bryan had his neck and head injury and took time off he called the Cruiserweight Classic and he saw a ton of talent from all over the world who may or may not be given the same opportunities he had. I think ever since then he thought, "man if I didn't miss that time off from wrestling." He could have been wrestling these guys and they would have been making him better, he would have made them better, the entire locker room better and WWE and the fans would have had more fun to enjoy. I think that's a really legitimate motive for him. Whether that's reaching out to people like myself or people like Shorty G, Mustafa Ali and recently he said Big E all these people that in his mind can go on to do so much more. It comes from a genuine place where we all love this and we want everything to be more exciting for our fanbase."
Gulak was originally scheduled to wrestle AJ Styles for the Intercontinental Title on Friday's SmackDown, but the match is no longer being advertised as the show has undergone re-writes due to multiple positive COVID-19 tests.
