AEW’s Bryan Danielson Says Wrestling Retirement Is Different This Time

Bryan Danielson has explained why his impending wrestling retirement is different this time compared to when he was forced to step away.

When Bryan Danielson became a top star in WWE as Daniel Bryan, he was arguably the most popular wrestler in the company. However, he also had health issues relating to a neck injury and multiple concussions.

Those health issues led to Danielson announcing his in-ring retirement in a February 2016 speech where he urged wrestling fans to believe in their dreams.

It was two years later on the road to WrestleMania 34 in 2018 when Bryan Danielson gained clearance to return to the ring after going to the best concussion experts and seeking treatments to better his health. Bryan would go on to become the WWE Champion again and main event WrestleMania for the final time before his summer 2021 departure for AEW.

During his three-year run in AEW, Bryan Danielson has made it clear he’s near the end of his career as a full-time in-ring performer. At AEW All In, Danielson put his career on the line against the World Title held by Swerve Strickland and Danielson left the match as the AEW World Champion for the first time in his career.

After winning the AEW World Title, Danielson made it clear that he still plans to retire as a full-time wrestler soon because of his health and because he wants to spend more time at home with his wife Brie and their young kids – daughter Birdie and son Buddy.

In an interview with Yahoo’s Uncrowned, Danielson said that he’s in a much better emotional state because of his family.

“I can tell the difference [in retirement scenarios] just by my emotional state, It was this huge, deflating moment when they told me that I couldn’t come back [in WWE]. It was like this part of me almost died.”

“With this, I honestly feel like I am mentally ready, and part of it is because of my physical struggles. Then, Brie [Garcia, Danielson’s wife] and I were married but didn’t have kids yet so we didn’t have this life that we have now, where I love coming home and being with my kids.”

Danielson also stated in the same interview that he recently had major pain in his body that led to 30 minutes of treatment by AEW doctors with the belief that his neck injury was what caused that pain.

Bryan Danielson Defending AEW World Title Against Former Ally At AEW WrestleDream

The AEW WrestleDream PPV takes place this Saturday, October 12th in Bryan’s home state of Washington in the city of Tacoma, which likely means that Danielson will have family and friends in attendance.

In the main event of the show, Bryan Danielson will face his former ally in the Blackpool Combat Club, Jon Moxley. At AEW All Out in Chicago, Moxley did a cheap attack on Danielson after Bryan had just retained his AEW World Title. Moxley made it very personal by putting a bag over Bryan’s head and suffocating the World Champion as a message that Moxley was coming for him.

Whether the Danielson-Moxley match is the end of Bryan’s run as a full-timer in AEW (Danielson has said he would still wrestle part-time) is unknown, but based on his comments, it seems as if Bryan is content about stepping away as a wrestler.