Bryan Danielson Rejects Neck Surgery As He Begins New AEW Role

Bryan Danielson made his full-time commentary debut on AEW Dynamite, but why is now the right time for this role in the company?

Bryan Danielson was previously forced into in-ring retirement while in WWE due to injuries. As a result, Danielson ended up as SmackDown General Manager for a spell before eventually being allowed to return to the ring.

Now, Danielson is in a similar situation in AEW, where his injury issues are seemingly stopping him from competing and now Tony Khan has given him a new role at the announce desk on Dynamite.

But it seems the two situations are very different.

Bryan Danielson Comfortable With In-Ring Career Ending

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained why Bryan Danielson might now be ready for a full-time commentary role as he’s not going to be returning to the ring in a serious way:

I think he’s very comfortable with the idea that he’s not going to wrestle again in a major way. I believe he will wrestle again at some point. He’s openly talked about the idea of doing indie shows, and he’s said he can fool around and have fun doing indie shows. He said the style of wrestling in AEW is such that he doesn’t think he could go out there and work at that level, and he doesn’t want to be the guy who lives on his rep.

Meltzer also noted that Danielson has elected not to have neck surgery, meaning a return to the ring is almost impossible due to his current condition:

Also, physically, his neck’s not in good shape. He didn’t have the surgery. If he had the surgery, I don’t know if he could’ve come back or not; it would have been a matter of the healing and everything, but he opted not to have the neck surgery because of quality of life and everything like that.

Danielson last competed back in a competitive match at WrestleDream in 2024 when he lost the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley. The American Dragon did make a brief cameo in his home state of Washington at a Collision show in June, where he answered Max Caster’s open challenge to defeat the Best Wrestler Alive. But that eight-second bout was not televised.

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