Bryan Danielson Wasn’t Ready For WWE Forced Retirement

Bryan Danielson has admitted he wasn’t ready to retire when WWE put him out to pasture but if can’t win at AEW All In, he’ll be at peace.

Bryan Danielson has put his career on the line as he challenges Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at All In. Much has been made about Danielson’s in-ring future in recent months with the American Dragon making clear that 2024 is the last year he intends to be a full-time competitor.

Danielson is no longer under an AEW contract but despite that, he will headline AEW’s biggest show of the year on August 25th and he wants to leave as a champion.

Speaking to BBC Radio, Bryan Danielson addressed putting it all on the line at All In as he challenges for the AEW World Title and admits if he doesn’t leave Wembley Stadium with the gold, he’ll be at peace with hanging up his boots:

Yeah, I’m very much at peace with it. If I wasn’t at peace with it, we wouldn’t have done that, right? But I also think — I’ve been wrestling for 25 years now at this point. To me, it’s now or nothing as far as winning the AEW World Championship. I came in and I said I was going to kick people’s heads in and I was going to win the AEW World Championship. And I’ve kicked a lot of people’s heads in, but I haven’t won a single title.

Bryan Danielson Wasn’t Ready To Retire In 2016

Danielson then contrasted his life now with back in 2016 when he had to give up his in-ring career in WWE due to injury:

My life is just different now, right? When I was forced to retire, I wasn’t ready. 2015 was kind of my last match, but I was forced to retire in 2016. At that point, I’m 35 years old and I’m just like, this doesn’t feel right.

I also didn’t have anything else to really put my focus and my attention towards. And now I do. Now I have a wonderful family that I’m really excited about spending time with and that sort of thing. So, yeah, it’s a very different place when it’s by choice rather than you’re forced.

Bryan Danielson was forced to step away from the ring due to injury in 2015 before WWE allowed him to get back in action in 2018 and he went on to win the WWE Championship again later than same year. That title was the last singles gold Danielson held in his career but all that could change at All In.

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