Bryan Danielson Won’t Commit To Another AEW Match, Offers This Instead

Bryan Danielson has no plans to return to the ring yet.

Danielson had his last match as a full-time wrestler at WrestleDream 2024, where he lost the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley. He stepped away from an active wrestling career due to his severe neck issues and also to spend more time with his family.

Although the American Dragon has retired as a full-timer from AEW, he continues to be an integral part of the promotion. He has been working behind the scenes and was also at the AEW-NJPW Forbidden Door PPV in London for commentary. Recently, Tony Khan announced Danielson will return to AEW Dynamite as a full-time announcer starting this Wednesday.

Before his big comeback on Dynamite, Bryan Danielson had a sit-down interview with Kairouz Bros where he shared if he’d be willing to return to the ring for the upcoming AEW show in Australia. Danielson stated that he’d like to do 45 minutes of Hammerlock instead of wrestling. The Jacksonville-based promotion is heading back to Australia once again for its Grand Slam event on February 14, 2026. The venue for the event will be Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

“I don’t know. I’d really like to get out there and do some Hammerlocks. I’m not sure that’s what Australia wants to see: 45 minutes of Bryan Danielson doing Hammerlocks.” [H/T Fightful]

Tony Khan Comments on Bryan Danielson Returning To Dynamite As Commentator

Tony Khan recently discussed Danielson’s move to commentary and why he’s a great fit for the role on the Battleground podcast. Here’s what he said:

“As we were preparing for Forbidden Door, I thought Bryan would be fantastic on the commentary team for that show, knowing the background he has, knowing his insights into pro wrestling and how prepared he is and how much research he does on pro wrestling worldwide, knowing the stars competing at Forbidden Door, coming from different promotions, stars from Mexico and Japan, and traveling from all over the world to compete at that show in London.

Also, I think Bryan’s a great star, and people want to see Bryan Danielson on television and hear Bryan Danielson on television, and thankfully, he’s got very intelligent, insightful things to say when he does talk.

I really thought Bryan would be a great part of the commentary team, and he did a fantastic job on Forbidden Door. So I had talked to him, maybe after his promotional tour of Australia was complete, about Bryan joining us on Wednesday, and it worked out perfect.

He’ll be joining us tomorrow night, on Wednesday Night Dynamite as a host, a commentator, providing his really, really valuable insights into pro wrestling.

I think it’s great anytime we’re able to bring on Bryan Danielson to do anything in AEW, but especially to provide very, very intelligent, insightful commentary on pro wrestling. That’s a great thing in AEW that we have now with Bryan Danielson as a host on Wednesday night’s Dynamite starting tomorrow.”