5 WWE Superstars who Daniel Bryan is close friends with

Daniel Bryan competed all over the world during his 16-year career as a pro wrestler, from PWG and ROH to NXT and WWE, so it’s no surprise that he’s made a few acquaintances along the way.

The former World Heavyweight champion’s in-ring personalities ranged from obnoxious irritant to loveable underdog, but you only have to watch him in media interviews or on Total Bellas to see what a laid-back, humble guy he is in real life.

In this article, with honourable mentions going to Seth Rollins, Luke Harper and future brother-in-law John Cena, we look at five WWE Superstars who Bryan is close friends with outside of the squared circle.

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#1 Brian Kendrick

Kendrick returned to WWE for the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic

Back in 1999, an 18-year-old Daniel Bryan, real name Bryan Danielson, began training at the Texas Wrestling Academy (TWA), run by Rudy Boy Gonzalez and WWE legend Shawn Michaels.

It was there where he had his very first match as a pro wrestler against Brian Kendrick, now a veteran of the 205 Live roster and a former Cruiserweight champion, and the two have been close friends ever since.

The WWE Universe bore witness to their real-life friendship in 2016 when Kendrick’s losing effort to Kota Ibushi in the quarter-finals of the Cruiserweight Classic moved colour commentator Bryan to tears.

Kendrick told talkSPORT in September 2016 that he credits Bryan with teaching him about different styles of wrestling, most notably Japanese, and said his former tag partner “really broadened my horizons and opened my eyes to what wrestling could really be”.

#2 William Regal

William Regal mentored Bryan from the very beginning

Daniel Bryan has said on many occasions that one of his closest friends in life, inside or outside of wrestling, is William Regal.

Asked in November 2016 who he would like to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame one day, Bryan instantly replied: "William Regal. He’s been my mentor since I was 19 years old, he has helped me more than just about anybody."

The retired Englishman mentored many Superstars while he was still competing, including Kassius Ohno and CM Punk, and it’s no wonder he now plays such a pivotal role in the progression of WWE’s next crop of talent in NXT.

Bryan and Regal appeared in various sketches together on The JBL & Cole Show – a series that used to be featured on WWE’s YouTube channel – and their 2010 encounter on NXT was included among D-Bry’s best matches on a 2015 DVD about his career.

#3 Cesaro

Cesaro and Bryan have fought outside of WWE too

Cesaro and Daniel Bryan’s friendship was built way before both guys went by their WWE names. In fact, the two were competing against each other under their Claudio Castagnoli and American Dragon guises in PWG as far back as 2006.

Bryan listed Cesaro as one of his closest friends in a recent Q&A on the Bella Twins’ YouTube channel and said in November 2016 that he would like to wrestle “The Swiss Superman” again if he were ever to have one final match.

Their friendship was even featured, to an extent, in a WWE storyline last year when Cesaro wasn’t getting enough opportunities on Raw following the 2016 brand split.

Dear @WWECesaro, when does your Raw contract end? We'd love to have you on #SmackdownLive :)

— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) September 27, 2016

Cesaro has also had words of praise for Bryan in media interviews, saying the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion is among his top three toughest opponents, along with Big Show and Sheamus.

#4 Bray Wyatt

Bryan was briefly a member of the Wyatt Family

You may not have thought it during their heated battles in 2013 and 2014, but Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt are actually pretty good friends.

The duo debuted on WWE’s main roster in 2010, albeit at different times, as members of the villainous Nexus faction and they would go on to feud with each other three years later in a captivating storyline in the build-up to WrestleMania XXX.

Like Cesaro, Bryan listed Bray as one of his closest friends in WWE during a recent Q&A, while “The Eater of Worlds” also had positive words to say about his former rival during a media interview in January 2017.

Asked who his dream WrestleMania opponent would be, Wyatt told Sky Sports he would obviously like to have wrestled the likes of Jake Roberts and Ric Flair in their prime, but in today’s WWE he would like to go one-on-one again with Bryan on the biggest stage.

#5 Kane

Kane and Bryan were Tag Team champions for eight months

If you were a WWE fan during Kane and Daniel Bryan’s year together as Team Hell No, you won’t be surprised to hear that the on-screen chemistry between the former Tag Team champions continued off the camera too.

The dysfunctional duo were bitter enemies in the summer of 2012 but became best friends – hugging friends, no less – when they began to team up in September of that year.

Bryan revealed in November 2016 that Kane, real name Glenn Jacobs, would be his second choice to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame, and said his WrestleMania XXX main-event triumph wouldn’t have happened had he not been aligned with “The Big Red Machine” in the previous year.

Fans had the chance to meet the reunited tag team in October 2017 when Jacobs, currently running to become mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, called upon Bryan to help run an event called ‘Yes, Yes, Yes-Fest’ at Hunter Valley Farm in Knoxville.