Jericho welcomes Daniel Bryan to the show.

Jericho informs that just days before this year’s WrestleMania he got a call from Vince McMahon who told him about Shane’s injuries. Shane was in the hospital with a staph infection and a hernia and Vince was wondering if Jericho could make it to the event to replace Shane in the event that he couldn’t get cleared to wrestle.

Bryan informs that nobody told him about that, adding that WWE officials don’t tell the boys anything anymore because they’re afraid that the boys will talk to the dirt sheets. He spoke to Shane on the phone who told him he was in the hospital, and that’s when WWE officials told him that they had a replacement ready but they couldn’t tell him who it was. Nonetheless, Bryan had a pretty good feeling that it was Jericho.

Jericho told Vince he could make it to WrestleMania just in time after finishing up his Fozzy show in another State, but joked that Sami Zayn would lose his mind if he had to call the entire match in the ring without things planned beforehand. A few days passed and he received another call from Vince, who said that Shane was going to wrestle now and Jericho couldn’t believe that Shane was being cleared to wrestle.

Jericho notes that Bryan’s return to the ring has been a long time coming. Bryan informs that he didn’t always think he’d make a return to the ring. After suffering multiple concussions and seizures his wife, Brie made him tell the company about it. He had a feeling that if he was honest with WWE about his concussions his career would be over.

He informs that he was devastated when he had to deliver his retirement speech and he didn’t want to talk about that to the WWE Universe. He wanted to come up with something else to talk about, like how much he appreciated their support. Nonetheless, he wasn’t in a good spot at that time and filming Total Bellas only made things worse. It was a very high-stress environment at John Cena’s house while filming that show, and at one point he had a mental breakdown and had to walk out.

After retiring he planned on going back to school, but one day he got a call from Triple H who asked him if he’d be interested in working as a commentator for 205 Live. That sounded like fun and he agreed to it, and eventually that turned into him being the GM of Smackdown Live.

He informs that was miserable while working as the GM and he didn’t want to go to work each week because it was very hard for him to be around the business without being able to compete in the ring. It was at this point that he knew he was going to return to the ring someday.

He points out that he now gets checked after every match. He doesn’t even have an opportunity to thank his opponents after each match; he heads right into the doctor’s office when he leaves the ring. Jericho points out that WWE threw Bryan right back into the fire after returning as he took a Powerbomb onto the ring apron from Kevin Owens on his first night back. Jericho says that’s one of the most painful moves he’s ever taken.

Bryan informs that his WWE contract was set to expire on September 1st and he was going to leave because he made his mind up that he was going to wrestle somewhere. Wrestling is a part of him and he didn’t have a satisfactory conclusion to his career. If WWE wasn’t going to clear him to wrestle he wanted to go to NJPW, ROH and Mexico.

Bryan informs that his return to the ring has been fairly easy thus far. He got a bit tired during his WrestleMania match when he was doing multiple dropkicks from corner to corner, but he took a deep breath and then he was fine. He was concerned heading into his recent singles match on Smackdown against A.J. Styles, but that turned out to be fine as well.

Bryan admits that he was concerned with his size when he was told he was cleared for an in-ring return. He has dropped 15-20 pounds since the WWE Universe last saw him in the ring, and although being lighter feels better on his joints, he thinks size matters to casual wrestling fans who turn on the programming from time to time. He also really wants to wrestle Brock Lesnar, and size is important in that case to make the match believable.

Bryan comments on his involvement with Tough Enough and being mentored by The Miz. He says he liked the Tough Enough idea, and he thought working with Miz was a great pairing. Although it was obvious that Bryan could wrestle, Miz could teach him how to become a star in WWE. He thought this was a great story so he got a weird haircut and wore plain ring gear on purpose, but then WWE failed to follow up on that storyline.

He says that filming Total Bellas was a real challenge for him. Reality shows are not his thing and he was never interested in that, but after marrying Brie he was almost forced into it. He points out that Cena’s house rules were the complete opposite of the way he lives so that made thins difficult. He admits that he’s very concerned about their baby being filmed all the time for future seasons of the show, but there are positives that come out of the show as well such as brand recognition.

That sums up today’s episode of Talk is Jericho. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!