Reflecting on what many fans regard as a perfect WrestleMania moment, he exclusively told
Metro.co.uk ‘It’s weird because for me it’s like a rollercoaster. I don’t have this special place in my heart for it.
Turns out as well as struggling through some pain, Bryan also suffered a lot of personal heartbreak, including the death of his dad, as well as young fan Connor The Crusher, who got to know the star the build-up and was sat on the front row for his crowning glory.
Starting with the physical side, he explained: ‘It was literally the most pain I’ve ever been in in my wrestling career. I had a neck injury, I was having these horrible shooting nerve pains down my arm, everything felt like a struggle.
‘We were filming Total Divas which is also not fun! At that time, it was taking me a tonne of time just to get ready for one match on TV. Say for Monday Night Raw, if I just had a 10 minute match it would take me forever warming up just to get my body functioning. And seeing Connor at ringside means he can’t look back on that night too fondly.
That Monday I find out my dad passes away, which was very unexpected. And then the Wednesday, Connor passes away. And then shortly after that, I had to have neck surgery where the recovery took way longer than expected and they didn’t think I was going to recover.
