Bryan Danielson Admits He’d Be Okay If He Never Wrestled Again
Bryan Danielson is okay with never wrestling again as long as he can live a comfortable life.
One of the biggest stories in AEW in 2024 involved Bryan Danielson. It was well-known going into the year that Danielson was going to retire as a full-time wrestler by the end of the year.
In the main event of AEW’s biggest show of the year, All In London in August 2024, Danielson won the AEW World Title for the first time in a great match with Swerve Strickland. Bryan’s wife Brie Garcia and two young children were at ringside to see him. The family went into the ring to celebrate with him as the new champion.
It was not a long title reign for Danielson since it lasted just 48 days. That’s because his former friend Jon Moxley beat Danielson to win the AEW World Title at WrestleDream. Not only that, but a plastic bag was put over Bryan’s head after the match and Bryan hasn’t been seen on AEW television since then.
Even though Danielson is no longer on AEW television, he has said in the past that he would wrestle part-time if he was physically able to do so. However, Bryan has also gone through a lot of physical challenges in the last 25 years as a wrestler. Bryan was unable to wrestle for over two years due to a concussion issue and he’s had multiple neck injuries as well.
While speaking to Fightful in an interview conducted last December, Bryan Danielson admitted he wasn’t feeling great.
“The reality of what I’ve done to my body is sometimes you feel not great. Other than that, you get so comfortable with discomfort. But that said, when you say like, ‘Okay, how does your body feel? Do you feel like you could go out and wrestle?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely not. There’s no, in no way, shape or form in the next three months.
Does it feel like I could do anything even remotely physical like that,’ right? But that said, I’m happy, right?”
Bryan Danielson Would Like To Avoid Neck Surgery
The former WWE, AEW & ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson made it clear that being healthy is what matters to him because he’s proud of what he did in pro wrestling, whether he can compete again in the ring or not.
“I mean, my priority is my health. I think of the odds of me wrestling again ever are probably 50-50 at this point. My desire is to not get neck surgery. So if I could, this idea of living comfortably, right? Okay, if I could live comfortably without neck surgery, but it means that I wouldn’t get to wrestle again, I think I’d be okay with that trade-off.
I had neck surgery before and it wasn’t a good experience. It kind of messed up my spine in the upper area for the rest of my life. Like now my spine is altered.
So it’s like, okay, if we can get to a point where I’m a little bit more comfortable without needing neck surgery but they say you can’t wrestle anymore, I think that’s a fair trade-off. I’ve had a good run, kid.”
Bryan Danielson remains part of AEW and has said even if he can’t compete at All In 2025, he’d be happy to help backstage or do some commentating if that’s what the company wanted.