Daniel Bryan on Pranking Total Divas Crew, The Beard, More...

A prank he pulled on the Total Divas crew while proposing to Brie Bella:
"Quite frankly, by the time that that happened, they were barely there because we'd just done a 5-mile hike. Imagine those people, they don't know where I'm proposing, right? They're hoping that it's at the beginning of the hike, but absolutely not. [Laughs.] I waited until we're at the top of the cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and everybody's drenched in sweat, and they've got the cameras and sound stuff, and nobody was even sure that's when I was going to propose. They just had to film us that entire time. It was almost like my own practical joke on the reality-show people to make them hike this far with all of this equipment, and then that's when the biggest moment happens, when they're completely mentally and physically unprepared for it."

Did he foresee his beard becoming a big part of his character?
"No. Absolutely not. I just started growing my beard because I was tired of shaving. Then I kept growing it, so I could grow out the hair on the top of my head. When you have a shaved head and you start growing out your hair, it goes through that awkward stage. I was like, 'If I keep growing out my beard, nobody's even going to notice that I'm growing out my hair.' And true to form, nobody did until it was past the awkward stage because everyone was looking at my really awkward beard." [Laughs]

Will he shave it for the wedding?
"It'll be interesting to see if she wants me cleanshaven for the wedding or not. I don't know if I could shave my beard right now if I wanted to. We're filming SmackDown tonight. Imagine if I just showed up to the arena tonight cleanshaven, how mad everyone would be. [Laughs.] It's no longer something that I can control myself. I have to accept that this is what I am."

Has he reached the level of a bus guy yet?
"No, and I don't know how you get to the level of being a bus guy. I do OK, but I'm somebody who saves my money. It's hard to justify that expense. Think of this: You're renting a bus and a driver to take you around 200 days a year. When you're trying to compute the cost of what that might be, it's very, very expensive. For me, I've been working most of my career not making very much money. [Laughs.] And I've been wrestling for about 14 years now. So I need to be able to save for retirement. I don't have any other job skills. I've been wrestling since I was 18. This is it."