Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan took part in a Q&A session during Wizard World Comic Con Chicago where he discussed his current health, Total Divas, who inspired him, Samoa Joe in WWE, CM Punk leaving the company and more. Full coverage is below.

The first person asked Bryan how he liked being filmed on Total Divas and is he typically annoyed by it all. Bryan said that sometimes it is fun, but sometimes, it is very annoying due to their schedule and one of the coolest things he was able to do being a part of Total Divas was to fly out his family and Brie’s family when he proposed to Brie and said that it was also the first time the families were able to meet each other and makes up for the annoyance of things. The next person asked if Bryan had the chance to choose one more opponent, who would that be. Bryan said that the one match he wants is a match with Brock Lesnar, but that the WWE may not allow that to happen, because he may be legitimately killed.

The next person asked Bryan who inspired him growing up, to which Bryan said that so many people outside of the wrestling world inspired him and that his mother and his father were big inspirations due to growing up without money, but never being able to complain about it. Bryan then talked about his parent’s divorcing and through that entire time, he never heard them talk about each other and they were quality beings that inspired him. The next question asked was what was the hardest thing he had to over come throughout his entire life. Bryan said that there were not really hard things for a long time in his life and the hardest thing for him was his father passing last year since it was such a real thing, especially with the upcoming NFL season. Bryan talked about when they were able to celebrate together that the Seattle Seahawks won the SuperBowl, but with NFL coming up, it is not as fun since he is no longer there to share it with him and that missing those things that you share with people in your life that you don’t have anymore is the hardest thing.

The next question asked was what was Bryan’s favorite moment with Connor Michalek. Bryan said that his favorite was when he came to DC RAW before WrestleMania 30 and doing the entrance together before RAW and witnessing Connor punch Triple H was amazing and the only hard thing was watching his father who, while Connor took it in stride, had a reaction that was the most touching sight to see. Bryan was then asked who was his favorite WWE wrestler growing up. Bryan said that it evolved as he grew older as anybody with an animal was his favorite growing up, The British Bulldogs, Koko B. Ware, Jake The Snake and more and then it evolved into liking The Ultimate Warrior, then Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, then Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio and such. Bryan was then asked are there any commentators or superstars/divas that he doesn’t like being around. Bryan said that was a very good question, because there is really not and there are people there that can be off putting, but you don’t have to be around them and said that if Brie and Nicole were where he is, then there would be a long list, but he likes pretty much everybody, but everybody has bad days, get annoyed and gets annoying.

Bryan was asked whether his finisher has a name yet. Bryan said that he calls it the Running Knee and that it was proposed to him to have it called “The Crusher” in honor of Connor and it was also proposed to be called the Knee Plus, but there is no name yet, so it is still just the Running Knee. On what was his favorite activity as a kid, Bryan said that he doesn’t know if he has a favorite and said that eating cookies was probably his favorite thing to do. Bryan was then asked if he could take one wrestler from now, who will be the one that will have a Hall of Fame career. Bryan said that the right question is maybe who deserves more opportunities to be put into that position and said that person would be Cesaro and he disagrees with Vince McMahon’s version of the it factor, because he believes that the it factor is getting people to care through their wrestling and Cesaro is his favorite to watch right now. Bryan was then asked whether he was a DX or nWo fan and refused to comment saying that he was a fan of Los Boriquas.

Bryan was then asked if he had to choose a match of his to watch over, what would that match be. Bryan said that the match he has been most proud of was against KENTA (Hideo Itami), because he loves the build and the emotion of putting together a match and in the WWE era, he had a lot of stuff he really enjoyed, but nothing that hit him at that level of emotion like “we did this” and that the WWE doesn’t need him to do it, because there will be 13,000 plus people three nights in a row in Brooklyn without him and they don’t need Bryan to sell things out, while Ring of Honor needed big matches to do big business and some of the things he did there had a legitimate effect on how many people showed up and that felt like his own thing. Bryan was asked if he has proposed to work the NXT roster down in Florida. Bryan said that he has, but since he still plans to come back to wrestling, he won’t say anything, because it may still happen. Bryan was then asked what plan B was for him in case wrestling didn’t work out. Bryan said that he didn’t have a plan B, but one of the cool things growing up was that he had an English teacher who didn’t know how they expected kids to straight from high school into paying high tuitions in college for something you’re supposed to learn about a field you will work him and that what his teacher admitted was that he went into the Peace Corps and after this new world experience, he was able to determine what he liked to do and has since become a teacher and loved his career. Bryan said that he had no other interests other than wrestling and if he went and tried wrestling and failed, he may have had a better understanding of what he wanted to do, because he wanted to do nothing else.

Bryan was then asked about Samoa Joe coming to WWE and said that it is about time since he has known Joe since around 2001 and that Joe is very good and deserves to be there. Bryan was then asked about having multiple theme songs over a period in 2011 and who made the call. Bryan said that after he was fired and came back, he had this really generic music and brought up that he would really like Ride of the Valkyries instead and as he was going to wrestle Edge for his one and only time, Billy Kidman informed him on the way to the ring that he had new music and it was then played instantly, but it wasn’t what he envisioned in his head and he came out and saw an entire audience just staring at him in disbelief, while Edge was in the ring just laughing hysterically and later he went back to rewatch it and Miz and Michael Cole are on commentary just ripping him to shreds and that after the initial song, they tried a couple of different variations and remembers the very dramatic switch to his current iteration. Bryan was then asked for his thoughts on Kurt Angle publicly stating that he would like to work a retirement match against Daniel Bryan. Bryan said that he would love a match with Kurt Angle and it would be absolutely awesome and he has a million ideas on it and there are a lot of things that he shouldn’t say publicly with the corporate stooge here, but there is this legitimate idea about WWE not wanting him to wrestle, but if they don’t ever again let him in the future, why not have that become his only way to wrestle Kurt Angle. Bryan was then asked that if he wasn’t able to wrestle again, what role would he want with the WWE. Bryan said that honestly, he doesn’t know and he sees former wrestlers as producers and trainers and he believes that it would be hard for him due to his love of wrestling and not being able to perform that part, while helping and training would be too close to him and breaking from the wrestling business and doing something else would be a better role. Bryan said that it is hard enough to be on Tough Enough since he watches somebody like ZZ who has this amazing personality that is incredible for wrestling, but it frustrates him so much because all he needs to do is get in a little bit of better shape to build endurance and he could be a world beater that people would come to the shows to watch as he legitimately has that thing and that was something he never had as a personality type and it is hard to watch that because it gets frustrating. Bryan said that when people at NXT ask him to give them his opinion, some of the new trainees have no idea what he is talking about and said that when he was telling the Tough Enough kids what he believes they actually do in the wrestling business, Billy Gunn had that look on his face as Bryan rambled wondering, what is he talking about and said that he himself is good at teaching technique, but he isn’t good at motivating or being able to explain his ideas.

Bryan was asked what is his favorite WWE shirt and why there is no flannel version of it yet. Bryan said that a flannel shirt is a funny idea, but he believes that a Brie flannel shirt needs to happen instead so that she doesn’t get upset and said that all of his shirts are cool in his eyes and he appreciates when fans buy his shirts, but his idea is that instead of buying his shirts, just make your own and said that he is not talking about going to a print shop and is instead talking about taking any shirt you have, turning it inside out and putting yes on it with white tape and said that if there was a movement, that would be the coolest thing in his eyes and said that times are tough and it is expensive to get to shows and that he appreciates people buying his shirts, but at the same time it takes to spend 3 minutes and $20 to buy a shirt at an arena, that family can spend 5-20 minutes together making a yes shirt and it would bring them closer together and cost little money. Bryan was asked for his thoughts on CM Punk departing the WWE and said that it makes him sad since he always had the idea in his head that at some point, they would wrestle each other at WrestleMania and he envisioned them as this generation’s Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels and it made him sad, but the flip side is that it was directly one of the causes of him main-eventing WrestleMania and he has mixed emotions on it. Bryan said that the hardest thing is knowing that CM Punk lost his passion for wrestling, because growing up in the business together, Punk used to love wrestling like Daniel loved it.

Bryan was then asked that besides his wife Brie, who is his best friend in the company. Bryan said that William Regal is a close mentor and friend, but there are just so many people. Bryan said that he loves Kane because he’s such a good human being and he loves Cody Rhodes, Ryback, Sheamus, Bray Wyatt, Cesaro, Seth Rollins and others and loves being around this amazing thing where they are around a lot of funny, really cool people with different takes on life. Bryan said that he enjoys being around John Cena, even though they are different personalities and said that Cena has Lamborghini’s, while he has a Honda Fit without automatic locks and said that Cena is so smart and so witty. Bryan said that loves being around the Big Show, while Randy Orton is another person he likes being around and said that being around all of those incredible personalities is one of the favorite parts of the job. The final question asked was that in terms of the near future, whether he has any idea on his in-ring return. Bryan said that the legitimate answer is he doesn’t know and said that there was a concussion in April, multiple concussions earlier in his career and the WWE are looking out for him. Bryan said that the neurologist of the SuperBowl who is an independent doctor and not part of the NFL cleared him without limitations, but unfortunately, there is a lot of grey area around concussions still and that WWE is more cautious, but that is part of the deal. Bryan said that when he returns, he doesn’t know and whether they will let him return, he also doesn’t know, but he is training right now to come back at a call’s notice and joked that he could main event SummerSlam on Sunday if they let him, but hopes that the internet rumor does not start of him being in the main event at the weekend.