The Miz Recalls Conversation With Bryan Danielson Ahead Of WWE Talking Smack Confrontation

WWE

The Miz has recalled his famous Talking Smack promo, revealing what he told Daniel Bryan ahead of their segment together.

The August 23, 2026 edition of the “Talking Smack” SmackDown post-show will forever be remembered, with the confrontation between The Miz and Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) still being talked about to this day.

Annoyed about how he was being treated, the Intercontinental Champion confronted SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan, after which Bryan told Miz to his face that he believes the titleholder wrestled like a coward.

In response, The Miz told the GM – who had retired earlier that year due to a neck injury – that he wrestles the way he does for longevity, before asking Bryan why he doesn’t quit WWE and wrestle on the independent scene.

The confrontation ended with Daniel Bryan storming off while The Miz shouted at him, off camera.

Speaking with WrestleRant, The Miz recalled speaking to Bryan for less than a minute about the plan for their segment, noting that they didn’t decide on a finish before the show started.

Explaining how the segment came to be, The A-Lister said:

“I got taken to SmackDown and they weren’t using me. I was the Intercontinental Champion and they were like ‘Hey, you have a dark match today.’ I go ‘Wait, I’m not on the show?’ They’re like ‘No, you’re the warmup match.’

“I go ‘Wait a second, what are we doing on the show?’ They’re like ‘We’re introducing two new titles.’ I go ‘What about this title? What about the title that has mattered to me since I was a child?’ Then I went to Road Dogg and was like ‘Put me on Talking Smack.’ He was like ‘Why do you want to go on Talking Smack?’ I was like ‘Daniel Bryan is the general manager, I’m gonna take it out on him.’

“Literally Daniel and I talked for maybe like a minute, not even, maybe like 30 seconds. ‘Hey, we’re gonna do this, we don’t know what the finish is. Let’s just go off and see what happens.’ That’s what happened.”

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The years following this segment were ironic, with The Miz suffering an ACL tear in 2021, weeks after Bryan allowed his WWE contract to expire, and months before “Bryan Danielson” made his AEW debut.

Bryan Danielson – who returned to the ring in WWE in 2018 – hasn’t wrestled a full match since losing the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley at WrestleDream 2024.

He wrestled a dark match after the June 25, 2025 Collision taping, where he defeated Max Caster in eight seconds, but has since been removed from the active AEW roster page. 

Brie Bella recently said that a current WWE champion reminds her of Daniel Bryan in WWE, click here to read more. 

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• wwe
• Daniel Bryan
• The Miz
• Bryan Danielson
• Talking Smack

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