Daniel Bryan responding to The Miz's recent comments.

Former 8-time WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz recently stated in an interview with Sports Illustrated that Daniel Bryan is not on his level. The two men's storied rivalry dates back to the NXT TV show when The Miz was a "mentor" to Daniel Bryan although Bryan was very successful in Ring Of Honor and in other promotions but was not accustom to the "WWE-style" of doing things. During the WWE European tour that the company is wrapping up Daniel Bryan and The Miz clashed in singles action and fans who were present shared on social media that the match had the crowd going nuts.

After Sports Illustrated spoke with The Miz and got his comments about Daniel Bryan not being on his level, SPORTBible reached out to Bryan for a response and Bryan agreed that as of right now he is not on "The A-Lister's" level in the squared circle since being cleared to return to in-ring competition.

"If you were to look at Miz's matches since I've come back, he's got a point," he admitted."His match with Rollins at Backlash, that was by far the best match on the pay-per-view. When I lost to Rusev, he wrestled Jeff Hardy - which was a fantastic match. The knock on Miz for years was that he was a great talker but so-so in the ring. This happened with Cena too where people were like, 'this guy can't wrestle' and while they are saying they can't wrestle, they learn to wrestle and learn to be the best as far as in-ring stuff. When I was the GM, we did that thing on Talking Smack and I told Miz he wrestles a very soft style - that's your thing. I wrestle this way and that's why I'm hurt. Saying that, he had several incredible matches with Dolph Ziggler during that time period and that elevated him. What he did was awesome and it wasn't just Miz talking. When he says I'm not on his level, there's a reason [why] he believes that."

The former ROH World Champion came into WWE having established himself as a great wrestler and would hear it from the fans on a nightly basis. But Bryan stated that he has never considered himself the best and that right now he looks to guys like AJ Styles & Seth Rollins to be considered the best in the sport.

"On the independents when I was with Ring Of Honor people thought I was the best wrestler in the world. Fans would chant it and I think the fans would believe it because they want to believe that their guy is better than the WWE guys. But never once have I considered myself the best. I look at AJ Styles and I look at Rollins right now, I say these matches with Miz were great but Rollins is in those matches and I don't know what is different but now he's clicking on every level. It almost feels like it was for me in 2013 where he's not the top guy on RAW but he's starting to get those top guy reactions, more so than other people. You look at these people and think, 'Ah he's better than me at this'. So if Miz says I'm not on his level, I look at it like, 'maybe I'm not' and that motivates me; how do I get on his level?" Bryan said.

Although The Miz has Daniel Bryan in the back of his mind he has the WWE Championship in his sights. "The A-Lister" recently qualified for the men's Money In The Bank Ladder match and is looking to pull down that briefcase for the second time in his career. To view the current field for the match, click here.