Bryan Danielson Explains Why He Walked Away from Total Bellas

Bryan Danielson was a staple of Total Bellas alongside Nikki and Brie Bella back in 2016, shortly after his in-ring retirement for the first time. Danielson eventually left the show and now the reason behind his departure has been revealed.

While speaking to Podcast Heat Wrestling, Bryan Danielson explained why he left Total Bellas. He said he really didn’t like filming reality TV. In fact, he said he hates it, even though he doesn’t usually hate things.

One of the things he didn’t like was how fake it felt. They had to keep changing clothes on the same day to make it look like different days, and he wasn’t even allowed to wear the same clothes. He thought it was supposed to be real, but it didn’t feel that way.

“We were filming Total Bellas—I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate… I don’t hate many things, but I hate filming reality. Uh, God, all of it. It’s just like you’re constantly changing clothes on the same day to go film something to pretend like it’s a different day. This is supposed to be real—can’t I just wear my same clothes? And they’re like, ‘No, you cannot.'”

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At the time, he was also going through a hard period after retiring from wrestling. Wrestling was something he loved, and having it taken away was painful. He wanted to be around family, but Brie Bella was traveling full-time with WWE.

Danielson says she would leave on Fridays and return on Wednesdays, and they’d only film on the days she was home. When she left, Bryan stayed alone in John Cena’s guest house, following a bunch of rules and taking care of their dog. He said he liked John Cena but the situation wasn’t good for him.

Danielson also said the show would create fake arguments just for drama, but sometimes those fake fights turned into real ones. One of those arguments got very serious, and that’s when Bryan decided he didn’t want to be there anymore.

“And also, it was really hard because, you know, when you’re going through something like retiring—this thing that you love gets taken away from you—you’d like to be around friends and family. Brie was on the road full-time with wrestling, so she was leaving on Fridays, not coming back till Wednesdays. We’d film Wednesday, Thursday, she leaves on Friday. I’m in John Cena’s guest house, there’s all these rules, I’ve got the dog—it’s just like… I love John, right? I think John’s great. But that’s not the ideal thing to be in.

And then they manufacture these arguments that sometimes turn into real arguments. And then one of the real arguments got real real, and then it was like, ‘Oh Jesus, I don’t want to be here anymore.’ So I just left. And uh… yeah, it was bad.”

The fight started with a disagreement between him and Nikki Bella. Brie and Bryan had bought land and wanted to build a house. Bryan wanted a small and simple house, but Nikki Bella wanted a big one.

It turned into a bigger fight about who deserves what in life. Bryan said he doesn’t believe anyone really “deserves” big things, especially when bigger houses are worse for the environment. He and Brie Bella had already talked and agreed on a smaller house, so the fight felt unnecessary.

At that point, Bryan Danielson was already feeling overwhelmed and the argument pushed him to the edge. Even though they made up later, he said it put him in a really bad mental state. It was the closest he had ever come to feeling like he couldn’t handle things anymore.

“It actually started with me and Nicole having an argument. Yeah, because Brie and I had bought this property, we were going to build a house. I wanted it to be a smaller house—got it. Nicole wanted it to be a bigger house. Then it became, ‘It’s not your house, it’s my house.’ Then it turned into this thing about… oh gosh, yeah, let’s roll up our sleeves, let’s get into it. It got into this thing about deserving stuff, right? About deserving this or deserving that or whatever it is.

And my opinion on all of it is that none of us deserve these things that we’ve gotten. Somebody deserving a bigger house—when a bigger house is worse for the planet—and all that kind of stuff. And Brie and I had talked, and that didn’t even seem to be what she wanted anyways. And then we get into this big thing, and I was already close to the edge anyway. And when I say close to the edge, I mean like… close to the edge.

We apologized and had that day, but it put me in a mental state where I was… I mean, if there was—if there was ever—that’s the closest I’ve ever come to like, ‘Okay, this is… yeah, I’m done.'”

Bryan Danielson left Total Bellas not just because of creative problems, but because it was a personal and emotional choice. Being on reality TV was hard, especially during big changes in his life. Danielson feels more at peace now and that’s all that matters in the end.

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