Original subtitles

Bryan, Miz one are one it very long story Laibrery

- You are nothing in the WWE

and you will respect me as your mentor.

- I don't like Miz.

That's why it worked really well.

I've been in this business for twice as long as he has.

- This guy's gonna come in here and tell me

that he's better than me.

- There's a ton of animosity.

- Bryan's the real version of what we do.

The Miz is the Sports Entertainment.

- Daniel Bryan and Miz played into that,

a natural rivalry developed.

- What can I say that's gonna set this guy off?

There's no gentle way to say it to me.

You wrestle like a coward.

- Daniel Bryan and the Miz-

- I am here each and every week.

- -they made the business better with how heated it got.

- There is always an undeniable pressure to deliver

and this one was a little extra.

- A rivalry nearly a decade in the making.

- There's only one way to settle this and that is in the ring.

- This rivalry has just escalated into a war.

- When two legends collide, their rivalry stays pinned

in our minds forever.

This is where we break down the legendary stories behind

the greatest rivalries of all time.

I'm Freddie Prinze Jr and this is WWE Rivals.

- You're the one that calls me the coward, but you're the one

that doesn't get in the WWE ring again.

No, don't you walk away from me, Daniel, don't you walk away.

- We're gonna be talking about one of my favorites to hate

the Miz versus one of my favorites to love Daniel Bryan.

[crowd chants: "Yes, yes, yes."]

They found each other at a perfect point in time.

- We have a lot in common.

Nobody ever thought I would make it either.

- You didn't make it.

You have accomplished nothing.

- Miz plays his character very well as this ingrate and he's

fighting against the time-honored business

of professional wrestling, which Daniel Bryan represents.

- That's what rooted Bryan and Miz's whole entire rivalry.

- I think so exactly.

- You know.

- You are a superstar.

Who dresses you?

Because you look like one of them.

- I think anybody that knows Daniel Bryan and knows the

Miz can see the oil and water of the two of them colliding.

- And it's weird because I had the same preconceived

notions about Miz that Bryan probably did when he got here.

- Who didn't?

- Yeah, right.

- You're gonna prove that it's not just to be on TV, you're

gonna prove you really want to do this for the right reasons.

- Yes sir.

- Then we're gonna see, aren't we?

- Yes, sir.

- It's easy for you to say something,

we'll see if you can do it.

- Yes, sir.

- Miz was almost like an outcast coming from that MTV world.

- You think you're big?

Well, you ain't seen big until you've seen the Miz.

- I don't think a lot of the guys took him seriously.

A lot of- a lot of guys thought Miz was gonna be here today

and gone tomorrow.

- The Miz came from MTV and was not well-liked when he

joined the WWE because a lot of people felt that that wasn't the

right way to come into this business.

And people hated him.

But he was a player and he was good at what he did.

- I haven't said one word yet and you people have

already chosen to hate me.

I was the bad guy that you couldn't stand,

that you didn't respect, that you wanted out of WWE

that didn't belong.

I was that guy.

Whether it was to the WWE Universe

or to the WWE locker room.

I'm the Miz, I'm a huge superstar.

You are all looking at me like the star I am.

I walk, talk, look and act like a star.

- He certainly had a face that you kind of wanted a smack

and you could see he's a natural heel.

Someone who can get heat within a matter of moments

once he started talking.

- Oh, I'm sorry, am I bragging too much?

Well, get used to it.

In 2010, I was there for four years and I felt like I was

starting to get a grasp of who I am as a character.

I was United States Champion, Tag Team Champion as well.

So I felt like I was on the rise.

- The Miz was putting all the pieces together to be that WWE

Superstar that he always dreamed of being.

But while he was doing that outside of the WWE in the world

of independent professional wrestling, a wrestler named

Daniel Bryan was setting the entire industry on fire.

- This young man, he has not even hit his physical peak.

- Everyone has been abuzz.

- Before I signed with WWE, most of the independent shows

I would do, I was pretty over already.

I signed a deal with WWE that was less than what I was making

on the independents, but the upside was more.

- Bryan flips outta the corner right to his feet.

- Bryan is the best.

A guy for my money who is-is probably the number one

independent wrestler of all time.

- Superplex.

- So when he went to WWE, it was a huge deal.

But in the WWE landscape, he was coming in as a-

very small fish in a giant pond.

- So in 2010 we start get rumblings of this new show

that's gonna come out where there are pros

and there are rookies.

And the pros will be taking these rookies and developing

them into WWE Superstars.

- NXT was created to give young wrestlers each a mentor and that

mentor is gonna guide them through a series of different

physical challenges, promo challenges, and other challenges

that you might have to face in the ring.

And it started a beautiful rivalry with the Miz as the

bitter mentor and the hungry Daniel Bryan.

- I am the Unified Tag Team and the United States Champion

the Miz, and I am one of eight NXT pros.

And my NXT rookie is Daniel Bryan.

I'm paired with Daniel Bryan and I think we are both kind

of excited but also nervous 'cause we didn't really know

what we were getting into.

- My name is Daniel Bryan.

I've been wrestling all over the world for the last 10 years.

And finally, finally, I have an opportunity here in the WWE.

- Daniel was this guy that when you look at him on paper,

should he be the WWE?

He's this amazing athlete, an amazing in-ring performer,

but I think would be the first guy to say didn't have

the larger-than-life character.

- Thank you, guys.

Thank you, guys.

That's a tremendous reception.

Espe-especially considering that my WWE pro was the Miz.

- Daniel is everything Miz wasn't.

Not the flashy talker, a wrestler's wrestler.

Miz, the fact that he was, and this was not by accident,

put on as Daniel Bryan's trainer and mentor,

that was blasphemous.

The Miz of all people.

The guy with the hat who would talk about being a chick magnet.

He's gonna tell Daniel Bryan how to perform, how to work?

- Where's your personality?

Where's your charisma?

How are you gonna become a star in the WWE?

- Daniel Bryan and Miz played into that.

And, you know, a natural rivalry developed.

- The first episode of NXT, I slap him.

He didn't know I was slapping him.

It felt like this is real.

This is gonna be fun.

- The pairing of me with Miz on NXT I thought was really

smart because it created a really interesting dichotomy

between the two of us.

- Daniel Bryan and Miz had a very antagonistic relationship.

- I've been in this business for twice as long as he has.

- I think it was inevitable that these two with their differing

egos were gonna clash at some point.

- You are nothing in the WWE and you will respect me

as your mentor.

From then on, it just, it kept going, it kept building

and they revolved the entire show around us.

Take my star power, my charisma, and put it into you.

Get it through your thick head.

Be a star.

- Miz really did make Daniel Bryan stand out

from anyone else.

The show was about them.

You wanted to see them and see what they were gonna do.

- Even though the Miz doesn't like to admit it, he knows not

only am I good, but he knows that I'm better than him.

- You're better than me?

Wait a second, you are an Indie star.

You haven't done anything in the WWE.

- It was me who had a ton of like Indie cred, right?

And him who was like a real, like, the WWE Superstar,

but had no sort of wrestling credibility.

- What the?

- This is some mentoring by the Miz.

- Hey, what are you doing?

- That blurred for our TV show with the reality

of the backstage.

They're calling us NXT rookies, but I've been wrestling

for 10 years internationally.

I have more experience than some of the WWE pros,

although they'll probably frown on me saying that.

- A lot of people that have come from the Indies that come to WWE

don't make it because they're good there in front of 200

people, but when you get to here and you're performing in front

of 10,000 people a night, you can't be a one-trick pony.

There's ton of attitude, a ton of animosity.

- And now teammates are going at it.

- Miz's hard work help put him in a position where he suddenly

was a star and here comes someone who can wrestle better

than he can, who's younger than he is,

and that's always a threat, so this was real stuff

put into a story.

- And Bryan being in there as the collateral damage to the Miz

who's trying to get some respect.

- Yeah.

- It was just-- it was pretty special.

- The WWE Universe heckled me.

They said that he was better than me,

that Daniel Bryan should be my pro.

I understand that an audience believes that he's better

than me, but I know.

Like I've been here, you haven't done my job.

A lot of those promos were real.

Go away.

- I never take offense to anything anybody says.

- You're representing me, you don't have excuses.

You don't use injuries as excuses, never.

- But it was borderline insulting.

Yes, I have wrestled in front of 15 people,

but I've also wrestled in front of 45,000 people.

I was the top independent star at the time.

They just brought me up here to make a laughing stock out of me.

- The Miz is doing everything that he can to make

Daniel Bryan the best rookie.

He's not happy, Miz.

He embarrassed him again.

- I knew there was magic with me and Daniel Bryan.

I knew it.

You don't even deserve to be here, you should just leave,

you're not welcome.

And we have had a rivalry ever since.

Get him out of here.

Get him out.

- You are watching Monday Night Raw,

as Miz gets set to go one-on-one with John Cena here tonight.

Hey.

- What?

- Daniel Bryan?

- As entertaining as this rivalry was on NXT between

Daniel Bryan and the Miz, it wasn't until Daniel Bryan

became an official WWE Superstar himself that we finally got

to see the Miz get some comeuppance.

- This rivalry is still simmering

months and months later.

- On NXT, I did the thing with The Miz.

I don't know how many people did this even resonate with,

you know?

And then the reaction was really cool.

- And look at this, Bryan making Miz pay.

- Daniel Bryan was re-energized, he was remotivated,

and it felt like he was an even bigger deal.

- This puts us on track for Miz as the United States Champion,

and Daniel Bryan to get this story moving again.

- It's a case of where two guys are just made better and brought

to another level because of the other one.

The Miz had to elevate his wrestling level to get in a ring

with Daniel Bryan and Daniel Bryan had to elevate

his mic work and entertainment.

- With the Miz, I have to overcome the fact that

I'm not a huge personality like he is when he stands up

and he's overly, uh, flamboyant and everything like that.

I have to highlight the fact that I'm not what he is and I'm

not going to be the guy who goes out there and is the superstar

as soon as I walk out there.

- Thank you.

Thank you very much.

- Bryan who is sort of the epitome of the traditionalist

and the purest.

He's the real version of what we do.

The Miz is the Sports Entertainment.

Bryan is kind of like every man and Mike is somebody you want

to just smack the taste out of his mouth.

- Whoa, look out.

Oh, man.

- I don't like Mike, right?

I don't like Miz.

His ability to be annoying is second to none.

- My name is Mike Mizanin and I have no right to be here.

At least that's what they told me six years ago

when I first started.

- It's not even just as a character.

He can come into the locker room and everybody's like,

oh, eye roll, like, oh, God, right?

Like, but his ability to do that is what makes him such

a valuable character to WWE.

- Wow, look at that.

- In my mind, I was better than Daniel Bryan.

That rivalry with Daniel Bryan helped that heat.

Let me tell you something, Daniel, I don't like you.

- You and me, US Championship match.

- I think that is such a cool thing about what we do.

It's just those long-term stories finally paying off

and to finally see Daniel Bryan be on this stage,

I was super excited.

[The Miz music plays]

- Well, ladies and gentlemen, this matchup is about the very

prestigious United States Championship.

[bell rings]

- Miz is in a lot of trouble here.

A lot more than he realizes.

- You have to go through wars, trials, and tribulations to get

to where I wanted to be which was main event of WrestleMania,

WWE Champion.

- Oh, what a clothesline.

Miz turning Bryan inside out.

- Daniel Bryan was just one of those battles that

I had to go through.

- Oh, look at this.

Miz, Miz was caught.

Miz got caught.

Miz got caught.

Come on, Miz, you got to get to the bottom rope to break this.

No.

You got to be kidding me.

- Daniel Bryan is the new United States Champion.

- I was just excited to get the opportunity to do a singles

match on a pay-per-view.

I thought the moment was cool to get the United States

Championship off of Miz.

- I think the Miz is actually crying.

[chuckles] He can't believe it.

- It was almost surreal.

Daniel Bryan is ready to launch into superstardom now as the

United States Champion, but this is far from the end

of the Daniel Bryan / Miz rivalry.

- This is our United States Champion?

Look at him.

He looks like my plumber.

You're an embarrassment.

You shouldn't even have that United States Championship.

- Does a plumber have a championship like that?

- You're like each and every one of these fans out here.

- Daniel Bryan now has the United States Championship

and he beat his former jerk mentor,

but that's nothing compared to where Miz is going.

- No.

Look out.

- I cannot believe it.

[bell ringing]

The Miz cashes in and he is the WWE Champion.

- When it happened, I was like, wait, this is real?

Like, I'm the WWE Champion?

You can see the emotion going through my body.

I'm going to be the biggest star you have ever seen.

Why?

Because I'm the Miz and I'm awesome.

- He was never the guy that was respected to come

in to do anything, so for him to be able to go in there and

actually win that championship, come out as a heel and honestly,

one of the best heels in the business.

I mean, you think of somebody that's able to, like, really get

that heat, it's the Miz.

- Listen, if you need me, I'll be in the main event.

- This was his time to either take the ball and run with it

or settle into mediocrity.

- A couple of months later, I lost the title-

- No.

Come on, Miz.

- Cover.

John Cena is going to be WWE Champion.

- -and couldn't figure out how to get back on top

for a very long time.

I just started falling and falling and falling and falling

and then Daniel Bryan was slowly moving up, slowly moving up.

[Yes, yes, yes.]

- Fans started getting behind me, which was really cool.

- And the Daniel Bryan "Yes!" movement is winning

over the entire world.

- But then it just kind of took on a life of its own.

[crowd chants "Yes, Yes Yes"]

- You could see people doing the "Yes!" chant everywhere.

It's almost like a rally cry for underdogs everywhere.

That's extremely important when you can take an industry

and flip it upside down.

- When you see a rise like that, you're proud, you're happy

because I was a part of that.

I taught you a lot back in the NXT when you were my rookie

and I was your pro.

I mean, if you do remember, I gave you basically

your catapult to your stardom.

- Did you?

- I would say so.

Where was it-- Now Daniel Bryan gets full credit,

but I helped that happen.

So I was really happy.

- WrestleMania has just turned into Yes-leMania.

- I went by myself because I had to see

that night from-from Bryan.

I wrestled this guy in front of 300 people

in Edison, New Jersey.

- Yep.

- And now he's in front of 70,000 people.

- Batista's gonna tap, Batista's gonna tap.

- He tapped.

- He did it, he did it.

Daniel Bryan did it.

- You got to be kidding me.

- The miracle kid.

The miracle kid.

[crowd cheers]

- That was one of the greatest moments I've ever seen.

To see that many people go absolutely ballistic

that this guy has climbed that ladder and beaten all these guys

and now he's on top of the mountain.

It was a wonderful moment.

- It's literally like the greatest week of my life.

And then come back and my neck is just getting

worse and worse and worse.

And that's because I've been wrestling so hard for so long.

- There was bone spurs pinning his nerves.

So we found out that he had to get emergency neck surgery.

- How are you doing?

- Well I've been doing a lot--

- Because this has been a very difficult time for me,

but enough about me.

What is next for you?

- My career is not over.

I will be back.

[crowd cheering]

Fast forward a couple years and it wasn't just a neck issue,

it was all of my concussion issues

and all that kind of stuff.

I had had several concussions at that point.

- So we went to the neurologist and that's when they realized

something severe was wrong.

He took all these tests, he did everything.

And then he started crying so hard and I was like,

"What's wrong?"

And he's like, "I need to retire."

And it was so sad cause he is like, "I don't want to do this,

Brie, but I know I have to."

- I honestly wasn't ready to do this yet.

Tomorrow is the first day of my life where I'm--

don't consider myself a wrestler.

It is with a heavy heart and the utmost sadness that I officially

announce my retirement.

- And it's sad.

I mean, Daniel Bryan was one of the biggest stars

at the pinnacle of his career.

And unfortunately due to medical, uh, circumstances,

he's no longer able to do what he loves to do.

[crowd chants "Yes, Yes Yes"]

- Daniel Bryan retired because of multiple injuries, and while

a lot of us fans are kind of reeling somehow, coincidentally,

that's when the Miz kind of kicks it into gear.

- Miz hooks the leg.

Miz is the five-time Intercontinental Champion.

- I win the title, and that set me off.

I wanted to make sure that the Intercontinental Championship

was the most prestigious and prized title in all of WWE,

and Maryse, my wife being by my side,

just elevated my confidence, gave me my groove back.

- Daniel Bryan just kind of sitting on the sidelines and

while he is not able to be physically active in the ring

anymore, he's so compelling.

And fans love just seeing him so much that he becomes

the General Manager of SmackDown.

- They were keeping Daniel Bryan a secret when he came out

and I was like, "Oh, okay."

- Man, did you- did you guys miss me or something?

[crowds cheers]

- Today we're in Worcester, Massachusetts,

for the WWE draft on SmackDown Live.

You all should be watching tonight, but most of all enjoy

the hundred sixth day of me being your

Intercontinental Champion.

Thank you.

- A draft is set up where superstars are drafted to be on

either Raw or SmackDown with Daniel Bryan as the onscreen

General Manager of SmackDown.

He's forced to make a decision he really doesn't want to.

- I kind of hate to be doing this, uh, but we need the

Intercontinental Championship.

SmackDown Live's next pick is the Miz and Maryse.

So Daniel Bryan comes back as General Manager

and he drafts me.

He didn't wanna draft me.

Oh, I know he didn't want to draft me.

He doesn't wanna see this face every day.

Me just wrestling in a ring while he can't do it.

Oh, absolutely not.

So why don't you do something that

your talents are suited for?

Become a stay-at-home dad.

- What was hard was when I was GM and there every week,

and then you have to be around this thing that

you love so much and then you can't do it.

- Welcome to Talking Smack.

I'm your host, Renee Young, joining me, my co-host,

the general- Bryan is not wrestling at this time.

And as his co-host on Talking Smack,

I can feel that animosity where he's like, I don't know

what I'm doing.

I kind of feel like I'm floundering.

You're hosting the show.

Obviously I want to be in the ring wrestling.

Then you have Miz who at the time is the

Intercontinental Champion.

- I just got drafted to SmackDown.

I had the Intercontinental Championship

and I wasn't on the show.

I was like, but I'm the Intercontinental Champion.

We're bringing over two new titles so you're not needed.

Like I'm not needed.

Like I was angry.

I was like, put me on Talking Smack, please.

Now I'm gonna unleash everything I possibly can.

- He had come up to me and he was getting really frustrated.

He was Intercontinental Champion and not being used.

And Miz isn't somebody who will sit around

and not be used for very long.

And also selfishly, I was trying to get back to wrestling.

I was like, what if we could create this match?

Yep, I see it.

Yep, thank you.

- I remember right before we got on Talking Snack,

we were backstage and I could sense that Michael's getting

really worked up.

Like he was like going like, and like he was super serious.

- I was a technique guy.

- Well, you were doing that weird technique, oh

Because the fact is you sit there and you have the-the

Women's Championship.

The new Women's Championship.

But what did you talk about with the

Intercontinental Championship?

A title--

- Okay, what can I say?

And he was doing the same thing.

What can I say that's gonna set this guy off?

- You said you wanted to make it relevant,

you wanted to make it prestigious.

That is what you said-

- And I, no, yeah, I-

- -words coming out.

- Well, here's the deal.

I have- I have respect for the title.

I just don't have respect for the person holding it.

- Why?

- Oh.

- There's no gentle it to me.

You wrestle like a coward.

You wrestle like somebody who's-who's afraid to get hit.

I didn't know coward would have an effect on him, but, so those

are things that people have said about Mike and to Mike

for so long, for him to not have a million things going

on in his mind.

- You-- you're the one that called me a coward.

- The cowards did not play well with him.

He should have never said that.

The fire was lit up, but he just put a whole can of fuel on it.

- I've been called the coward before, but when Daniel Bryan

calls me, it's a you're a soft style of wrestling.

Like you are a Sports Entertainer.

You're not a wrastler, you're not a wrastler like me.

You were on a reality show and you don't belong here

is what I heard.

And so once he said that, I went off.

The reason I wrestle the way I wrestle is because

I can do it day in and day out all the time for 10-plus years.

I have never, never in my career ever have been injured.

I don't get injured for six months to a year.

I am here each and every week.

- It was tense, obviously, as I'm sitting there.

It was so real and seeing like the tears welling up-

- Yeah.

- -in Miz's eyes.

I just remember being very uncomfortable because I didn't

know what was happening or where they were gonna go with this.

- Let me tell you about a guy who tells his WWE fans,

the people that he loves, that he will be back.

He promises them.

- My career is not over.

I will be back.

[crowd cheers]

- But you didn't, Daniel, did you?

But I'm the coward.

- I'm like, dude, the guy can't wrestle anymore.

Give the guy a bit of a break.

Like I felt like he was like taking him out at the knees.

- No breaks.

He was giving him no breaks.

- None.

- Miz says you got a broken neck.

You know why you got a broken neck?

Because you don't wrestle the right way.

I'm still here.

And you're making fun of a guy who's lost his career.

- I honestly thought that Bryan was gonna smack him in the mouth

'cause it's like physicality is going to happen here

at some point.

- If they would let me come back, I would come back.

- Oh, yes, if-if you-you would you love being right in that

wrestling ring and you love wrestling, right?

Well, why don't you quit?

Why don't you quit and go to the bingo halls

with your Indie friends, okay?

- Okay, I think you need to calm.

That's not what this- that's not what this show's about.

- GM have this.

Thank you very much, Renee.

This is a great show, but we're talking here.

I just started going off like it was like a-a dog foaming at the

mouth like of anger, pure-solid anger

and I didn't know what he was going to do.

- If they would let me come back I would come back.

Ohyou would Why don't you quit?

Why don't you--

whereas a fan, you're going,

is this part of the show

or are they really going at each other here?

It reminded you when they had their relationship in NXT

and you were like, oh, man, maybe they've hated

each other this entire time.

- I'm the one that doesn't love the-

- He was pushing a limit

where it either I punch him in the face right now or I gotta

leave because he's touching on some things that he knows that

it's not okay with me.

- I need to talk to you real quick because the fact is you're

the one that calls me the coward, but you're the one that

doesn't get in the WWE ring again.

No, don't you walk away from me, Daniel, don't you walk away.

I'm the one that loves the fans.

You're the one that gets up and walks away every single time.

You're the coward.

- Daniel Bryan left the set.

This is entertainment.

Like we're doing a television show here and you're walking out

of a set because he's getting to you.

- Bryan takes off his headset, walks off the set.

Miz is still standing there like red in the face.

Again, his eyes are welling up like this is a man so passionate

about what he's doing, hates Daniel Bryan so much.

- When he left, it made me even more angry.

I could not believe this guy did not hit me.

Did not come at me.

What do you do?

And then I was like, oh, there's a camera right there.

Screw it, screw him, come here.

Get this camera on me.

Get that camera right here.

This is my show.

My show, and I'm sick of all of you.

My GM sitting there criticizing me, calling me the coward.

You're the cowards.

I'm the one here day in and day out in that wrestling ring

beating people up.

Thank you very much.

- It was not a wrestler hyping up the next big match.

It was a man who had put his entire life into his craft and

finally demanding that people take notice.

- Okay, the uh- this has been Talking Smack,

we will be back same time next week

immediately after SmackDown.

Thank you guys for joining us tonight.

- When it was done, I felt like I went through like a war.

Like it was like I was so emotionally drained.

- This is what we wanted out of the segment.

It went further than I think either of us expected it to go,

but we went into it knowing that like, hey,

we're going in guns a blazin' we want this to be good and it-

-it was good at the time,

I wasn't in my head thinking this is good.

In my head I was thinking, I'm gonna punch this guy

in the face or I need to leave.

- The best stories are obviously based in reality, always, and

the best stories are always finding that fine line between

what is a work and what is real.

- Mm-hmm.

- Nothing led me to believe like this is a story they're going to

cause obviously we knew too Bryan can't wrestle anymore.

- Yes.

- Like what is the payoff of him telling Bryan to go and wrestle

with his Indie friends in bingo halls, so everything that I saw

in that moment pointed it to, oh, wait a minute.

I think this might actually be real.

- And the next week I was back where I wanted to be,

on the show, a mainstay.

So I want you to go back to your little cubby hole and I want you

to watch me do what you can't do anymore.

- That interaction brought attention to how good

he is at talking and despite any of my issues with the Miz,

one thing that I will not discount, not for a single

second is he's very good at talking.

- I wanna dedicate this win to the SmackDown Live

General Manager, Daniel Bryan.

- It added to that level of discomfort when as fans you knew

this wasn't the buildup for a match.

Daniel Bryan legitimately could not wrestle anymore until

the unthinkable news came this moment that we thought we would

never get because we were told we were never gonna get it.

- All of these neurologists, every specialist, every doctor

I've seen has said the same thing and it is this,

you are cleared.

[crowd cheers]

- What happened to his neck.

What happened to his brain, the concussions.

This is no joke and Bryan never took it lightly.

- Yeah.

- So we knew that if he felt confident enough to come back,

it's because he was okay.

Almost instantly people started talking about, oh, we're gonna

get Miz versus Bryan.

That's what people were excited about.

Now the Miz versus Bryan match can actually happen.

- I called Daniel and I was like, congratulations.

That's incredible.

How are you feeling?

He's like, "I feel good."

I was like, "Look, I want this match."

He goes, "Me too."

It's primed up. It's ready to go.

As much as you pretend that you want to fight me, all you really

want is this, this, Daniel, you just want me and you locked

in conflict because you know it furthers your career.

10 years of fighting on the Indies, Daniel, to get noticed

and it took me five minutes of getting in your face

on Talking Smack to make you famous.

Why don't you come fight me one-on-one at SummerSlam.

- We are set for a rivalry, nearly a decade in the making.

Tonight it all comes to a head.

The degradation, the separate triumphs, the animosity.

Tonight it's the Miz versus Daniel Bryan.

- So it's 2018 and the man who can never wrestle again,

who the Miz has ridiculed,

is coming back and he is ready to wrestle.

- I don't get injured for six months to a year,

but you sit there and call me at coward?

- If Bryan isn't hurt, I feel like that Talking Smack promo

happens and Bryan and Miz are probably wrestling a week later.

Here's Bryan can't wrestle.

It made so many people wait for this match.

It made people want this match even more.

- Credit to the Miz for keeping it all simmering

on the back burner.

- Yeah.

All these years.

Right.

- Not knowing if Bryan was ever gonna come back and now he's got

something to sink his teeth into that we've all been like

frothing at the mouth for.

[fans chant: "Yes, yes, yes."]

- Tonight it all comes to a head.

The degradation, the animosity.

- I have a huge match for SummerSlam against Daniel Bryan

and I feel like you bring me a lot of luck.

[chuckles]

- There's a pressure with every match that I have.

There is always an undeniable pressure to deliver and this one

was a little extra because, you know, we've built this

into something that people have been wanting to see

and so you don't want to disappoint.

- Oh look who's here.

- Miz's wife Maryse and baby Monroe Skye.

16,169 strong in support of the "Yes!" movement.

You see Daniel Bryan balling up that fist.

He has waited so long to punch Miz in the face.

- I love being a wrestler.

- Bryan unloading.

- Pro wrestling gives me a certain amount of joy

and tends to bring me some of the most joyful experiences.

- Oh, what a kick.

- I'm out there feeling like this energy from the crowd

and it's an incredible feeling.

- Oh.

- Defiant Daniel Bryan.

- You couldn't have a better matchup if if you tried.

You get everything.

You get the wrestling, they go back and forth

for 20 some minutes.

- We have been waiting for years to see Daniel Bryan

beat the Miz.

- Bryan sending Miz to the outside.

- And we see these flashes of the old Daniel Bryan.

Maryse is in the front row and Maryse slips

Miz a foreign object.

- Wait-wait, what? Something is in the Miz's hand,

- Daniel hobbled.

- Oh,

something was in the Miz's hand.

- Miz looks up at Maryse.

Wait a minute.

Covers, hooks a leg-

- No, not like this.

- - and he's beaten Daniel Bryan.

[laughing]

- It's amazing how low the Miz was willing to stoop to cheat

his way to a cheap victory against Daniel Bryan.

- We tore the house down and so job well done.

- That match was great.

- Great work, Miz.

- Thank you.

- Miz and I don't like each other, but I think he's

underrated as a wrestler.

And I've been really pleased with some of the matches

that I've had with Miz.

- Skull-Crushing Finale.

- The Miz and Daniel Bryan kept having matches

against each other.

They brought their wives in.

They had mixed tag team matches against each other.

Daniel Bryan and the Miz are Batman and the Joker.

They're destined to fight each other for as long as they exist.

- And now Daniel Bryan rolls up Miz.

Looking to steal one here.

He got him.

- What?

- He got him. Daniel Bryan got Miz.

- It's an amazing long-term story because of how much

their rivalry did for both of their careers.

- I need to talk to you real quick.

- Daniel Bryan and the Miz how heated it got and how it made

people feel more than anything.

- Don't you walk away from me, Daniel.

Don't you walk away.

- They made each other better.

They made the, um-- the business better.

- I want to hear you say it.

Are you WWE Champion because you listened to what I said.

Yes or no?

- Yes.

- I always felt both men needed each other to become

the men they are now.

- Miz was in the ring with him so many times over the years,

there's no way he didn't improve as a in-ring performer

by learning from Daniel Bryan, much like Bryan probably learned

about being a WWE Superstar from Miz.

They both helped each other tremendously.

- Be a star.

Even though we might

not have seen eye-to-eye, I am very thankful,

because sometimes your biggest rivalries

teach you the most about yourself and about your

abilities and what you can do and they push you.

So you need those rivalries.

- Miz actually did help me a lot as far as realizing what you

need to be to be a WWE Superstar,

that just wrestling isn't enough.

- Try a catch phrase for me.

- You either tap or you snap.

I would like to think that he respects me.

I certainly have a respect for him.

Our personalities don't agree with each other.

What's up?

- No.

- But I respect him.

Mike, yeah, thank you very much.

- Got cameras everywhere.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- 45 cameras, are you okay?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- There's two people who are completely opposites

and they just shine, you know.

They bring the best out of one another.

Great matches, great promo, great storytelling.

You really felt these moments.

I actually like that idea.

You don't get that very often, but you got that with this one.

- Get out of my face.