Daniel Bryan Q&A: I want to wrestle again when I sit ringside

Daniel Bryan just can’t quit wrestling.

Five months after his gut-wrenching retirement speech in front of a sold-out crowd in his home state of Washington, Bryan finds himself back on WWE television in two unique roles.

The 35-year-old former wrestler — who walked away from sports entertainment due to concussions in February — splits his time as the color commentator of the “WWE Cruiserweight Classic” tournament and as the general manager of “SmackDown.”

No, it’s not the same thrill as competing in the main event at WrestleMania. But instead of having to worry about suffering another head injury, Bryan’s biggest injury concern is losing his voice broadcasting.

Prior to “SummerSlam” on Sunday, Bryan chatted with Yahoo Sports about his new roles, his dream “Cruiserweight Classic” final four and what’s in store for the Seattle Seahawks this season.

Has traveling on the road again on a weekly basis as GM of “SmackDown” helped or hurt whatever wrestling itch you still might have?

It’s kind of hurt it. It’s not the traveling part of it … I was doing OK, right. I was like, OK, this isn’t my jam anymore, I can’t do this. Until they had me sit out by ringside for a couple of matches and it’s just like, c’mon, I’m ready to go. That’s the hard part. Or when I go out to the arena and get such a great reaction. That’s when I want to wrestle.

And how has the extra traveling gone over with the boss of the household, your wife, Brie Bella?

She travels quite a bit herself, so she can’t chastise me … yet. We’re working on having kids right now; we’re trying to get that going. So once she gets pregnant, and we are crossing her fingers that she can get pregnant, then she might be a little more angry about it than she is now.

What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in your short broadcast career calling the “Cruiserweight Classic?”

For me, it’s trying to keep my voice up. So [last] Wednesday, there was an amazing match between Cedric Alexander and Kota Ibushi. We filmed three tapings in a row that day and that was the main event of the first taping. I was so excited calling the match that I lost my voice completely and then I had to do two more hours of calling matches.

Mauro [Ranallo] is great because he’s trained to do that. My voice isn’t trained for it. I can only talk for so long before my voice just goes out. That’s been the hard part but the “Cruiserweight Classic” has been a blast.

If you were booking your own version of the “Cruiserweight Classic” featuring any cruiserweight, past or present, who’s in your final four?

Probably myself because I would like to wrestle these people I’m about to name. Tiger Mask. Probably Steve Grey, who’s a British wrestler. And in Mexico he’s not really considered a [cruiserweight] because they have different weight classes and everybody is kind of smaller in general, but I would put Satánico in there.

Do you feel directly responsible for the number of smaller wrestlers in the main event picture?

No, I think it was a natural evolution. I think what’s happened is there’s so many hours of TV that’s put out there that people who are more exciting in the ring are going to be the ones that become more popular. Because of “RAW” being three hours and “SmackDown” two hours, there has to be more matches and longer matches. Smaller wrestlers are built for more exciting matches.

Who will have the better football season: Everton FC or the Seattle Seahawks?

The Seahawks. I like Everton. If I’m going to cheer for that kind of football team, I’m going to cheer for Everton. But the Seahawks are my passion.

What do you expect this season from the Seahawks? Back to the Super Bowl?

Every year I say the same thing. Every year I say the Seahawks are going to win the Super Bowl. There’s no doubt in my mind every single year. And you have to keep in mind this was well before the Seahawks were good. This was like 2-14, drafting Rick Mirer, Seahawks. I would still be saying they were going to win the Super Bowl.

If you spent the next four years training for an Olympic sport, which sport would you have the best chance of winning a medal in?

I don’t think I would have a chance of winning a medal in any sport realistically, but I’m actually going to pick the sport that I might have the least [chance], but I would like to try it the most, is the synchronized diving. One, I’m a horrible diver and can’t swim, but the idea that these people can do all these flips and everything and then land in the water at the same time in the same position is astounding. I would just like to train for it. That seems like fun.

I’ve noticed photos on your Instagram of you weightlifting. How’s that going?

Good. I’ve lifted weights ever since I was a teenager, but I started going more towards the Olympic weightlifting style, which is clean and jerk. I competed in my first competition maybe six weeks ago or so, and I won in my weight class. Here’s what happened … now I’m a master because I’m 35. So masters are 35 and older, so there were only two other people in my weight class and my totals weren’t very impressive, they were just good enough to win the local masters division.

Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect at “SummerSlam” 1991 or Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog, “SummerSlam” 1992?

Bret-Bulldog at 92. The emotional reaction at Wembley Stadium … it’s awesome.