By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Former WWE World Hvt. champion Daniel Bryan was interviewed at-length by GQ Magazine on Tuesday prior to this week's live Smackdown TV taping. Weaving character and storyline with his personal thoughts, Bryan discussed the pressing issues surrounding his 18-second World Title loss at WrestleMania. The full interview can be read at GQ.com . The following are highlights.

-- After Bryan discussed the "surreal" feeling on the Raw after WrestleMania when the crowd was chanting for him and chanting "Yes!" throughout the night, GQ asked Bryan why he felt the hardcore fans were supporting him.

"I feel like part of it was a backlash against how short my match at WrestleMania was," Bryan said. "A lot of it is that people like to boo me, but they kind of like me. They don't want bad things to happen to me, like an 18-second loss at WrestleMania, especially the hardcore fans, which is mostly who comes for WrestleMania. People come from all over the world. They travel to WrestleMania, and a lot of those people know my story, how long it took me to get a WrestleMania match. And then for my first one to be an 18-second loss, it actually generated a lot of anger."

Bryan then transitioned a follow-up question on whether he shares fan anger into how his character will respond to the 18-second, embarrassing title loss.

"I was World Heavyweight Champion for four months. I wanted to go out there and steal the show," Bryan said. "I was really looking forward to going out there and showing everybody what I can do on the biggest stage of them all, and then I just wasn't able to do it." Bryan added, "Losing the World Heavyweight Championship in 18 seconds, storyline or not, is going to anger somebody. If you've been champion for four months and you lose it in 18 seconds on what's kind of a cheap shot, you're going to be a little bit angry. I'd like to amp up the more aggressive side of my character in that sense."

Asked how he reacted to being told by WWE management how the match would go down, Bryan said, "There wasn't much of a conversation. This is my job, you know? You have to do something, and even if you don't like it, that's what you do. But you go out there and do the best that you can. I went out and did the best entrance I could possibly do."

-- Asked who he would like to work with on the current roster, Bryan said with a laugh that he would still like to work with Sheamus, noting their WM27 match was bumped to a pre-show dark match and their WM28 match was an 18-second outing.

-- Bryan said he did not expect to hold the World Title past the Royal Rumble PPV in January after capturing the title at TLC in December.

"I was really thrilled with it, actually," Bryan said about his four-month title reign. "I didn't expect to hold the title as long as I did. When I won it, I thought, 'Oh, this is just a temporary thing. I'll probably lose it at the Royal Rumble.' It cemented me, in a lot of people's minds, as someone who could be in a main-event spot and do a good job at it."

-- Bryan noted the most draining part of WWE's schedule is "that there's not a break." He said wrestlers can't get rest to let their bodies heal unless they get hurt, "and none of us want to get hurt."

Asked if that makes him long for the independent scene schedule, Bryan said, "There are positives and negatives to both. I wanted to come to WWE party for personal accomplishment. I'd done essentially everything I could do on the independent scene, and I wanted to see how far I could get in the WWE. But also, you can only do this for so long, and at some point you have to try to save enough money to retire or at least to put yourself into a position to do something else."

Bryan added that what he misses the most about the independents is his personal friendships. "In the WWE, it's such a competitive atmosphere. There are only a few top spots, and then the rest of them are independent spots; you don't really create the bonds and friendships that I had on the independents," Bryan said.

-- Bryan said he hopes to see Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, and Tyler Black called up to the main WWE roster from Developmental. "Taking that step up from the developmental system to TV, you never know why they're going to bring somebody up. They could be down there a couple of years," Bryan said. "My friend Tyler Black is wrestling in the developmental system as Seth Rollins; I'd love to have him come up to TV. That would be cool for me, but who knows when that's actually going to happen?"

-- Asked about C.M. Punk using his Best in the World moniker from the independents, Bryan said, "Literally, we haven't talked about it at all." Asked about the font on Punk's t-shirts resembling his ROH merchandise, Bryan said, "It's just funny."

-- Bryan also talked about his vegan lifestyle, indie rock bands, working with William Regal on a previous European Tour, and other topics.

Link: Full, in-depth interview at GQ.com (Thanks to PWTorch reader Chris). URL: http://gqm.ag/IW1IGM

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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