WWE News: Daniel Bryan's response to The Miz's 'He's Not At My Level' statement

What’s the story?

During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard section, former eight-time WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz stated that his biggest adversary in the WWE today, Daniel Bryan is apparently not on ‘The A-Lister’s’ level.

Following The Miz’s comments, Bryan has now seemingly responded to his rival’s recent statements in a somewhat positive manner.

In case you didn’t know…

Daniel Bryan and The Miz initially ignited a feud in the WWE back in 2016 on an episode of Talking Smack, when The Miz absolutely snapped and went on a tirade against then-SD Live General Manager Daniel Bryan, who decided to label the former a “coward” for not returning to the ring when he promised the fans he would.

However, due to Daniel Bryan’s retirement from Professional Wrestling, the former WWE World Champion couldn’t get his hands on The Miz due to being unable to compete in the ring and during The Miz’s recent interview with SI, took full opportunity to take another shot at ‘The American Dragon’ by stating the following:

"Daniel Bryan could have quit and went and did all his indies and did all the bingo hall things, but he wanted to fight for his dreams. But that day, he didn't fight for his dreams. He walked away like the coward he was calling me. Now you fast forward and everybody wants to see Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz, but the fact is Daniel Bryan isn't at the caliber I am at. I am sick of people sitting there saying, 'Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz.' He doesn't deserve to be in the ring with me. He's not at the level that I am. I am showcasing top-level talent, and maybe in a year or maybe in two years, he'll be at that level. But right now, he's not at that level. He's just going on the fame he had four years ago. Things changed. So when Daniel Bryan is ready, and I feel that he is ready, that's when the match will happen. Until then, he's not ready for me."

The heart of the matter

In response, Bryan was also recently interviewed by SPORTbible, shortly after The Miz’s statement and as noted, the recently medically cleared Daniel Bryan replied to his rival’s comments in a seemingly positive manner.

As per Bryan, he believes that ever since his comeback to the squared circle, his biggest adversary in the WWE, that is, The Miz has definitely upgraded his in-ring game and performance and has certainly been hugely impressive inside the squared circle.

According to Bryan, Miz’s recent IC Title match against Seth Rollins at Backlash was also by far the best match on the pay-per-view as well and his latest win over Jeff Hardy on SmackDown Live was also another fantastic match. (H/T: Wrestling Inc)

"If you were to look at Miz's matches since I've come back, he's got a point. His match with [Seth] Rollins at Backlash, that was by far the best match on the pay-per-view. When I lost to Rusev, he wrestled Jeff Hardy - which was a fantastic match. The knock on Miz for years was that he was a great talker but so-so in the ring. This happened with [John] Cena too where people were like, 'This guy can't wrestle' and while they are saying they can't wrestle, they learn to wrestle and learn to be the best as far as in-ring stuff."

What’s next?

Daniel Bryan is currently performing on the Smackdown Live brand alongside The Miz as well and fans could definitely expect the two men to square-off in a big WWE PPV, sometime down the line.

Author’s take

There is definitely no denying the fact that The Miz is currently one of the hardest working performers on the main roster and his improvement inside the wrestling ring has also been tremendously good as well.