Bryan Danielson can hear the “PEACOCK!” chants now.
Danielson recently spoke with Jeff Adams for Sports Nightly. The “American Dragon” was asked if he regretted going by a name (Daniel Bryan) that’s so similar to his legal name.
“No, I think it works really well. Although when WWE, so I wrestled as Bryan Danielson for ten years, and then when I went to WWE, they wanted me to change my name. They asked me to send a list of names. William Regal was actually the one who suggested Daniel Bryan so that fans would be able to follow me easily from the independents to WWE.”
Regal’s advice had some logic to it, whereas Danielson made some sillier suggestions.
“I had suggested things like Buddy Peacock and Lloyd Boner [laughs], so it was probably a smart move. Then also, it was an easy transition for fans to understand who I was after that run. Although I still imagine full arenas chanting ‘Peacock, Peacock, Peacock.‘”
Desmond Wolfe vs. Lloyd Boner
Danielson did get the chance to have fans chant “Boner” at him during a Chikara show after he was fired by WWE in 2010. Danielson asked the crowd if they wanted to see him go to TNA after his no-complete clause was up. The fans booed, and he jabbed back. “You wouldn’t want to see Desmond Wolfe vs. Lloyd Boner?” That retort led to the crowd chanting ‘Boner!’ at him.
Danielson also told TV Insider more about the transition from ‘Daniel Bryan’ back to Bryan Danielson when he signed with AEW. He mentioned the Peacock moniker and explained how some people still refer to him as his WWE name, no matter how long they’d known him.
“I laugh because it has happened with the same people who knew me in WWE. CM Punk has been on both sides of the spectrum. When I first came up to NXT in the original season. That was the beauty in changing my name when I went to WWE. People who were on the independents knew me as Bryan Danielson. It was better than some of the other names I pitched, like Buddy Peacock. Jim Ross may have known me a little bit as Bryan Danielson, but he wasn’t intimately connected. Daniel Bryan is how I made a really big name for myself. So, I get it.”
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