Bryan Danielson Confirms Famous WWE Moment Wasn’t Meant To Happen

Bryan Danielson has been looking back on his WWE career.

At Money In The Bank 2011, Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) won the SmackDown Money In The Bank Ladder Match, setting him on course for the World Heavyweight Championship.

This victory launched the star into a rivalry with current champion Mark Henry. And after a botched cash-in and a defeat in a different title match against Henry, Bryan successfully cashed in at TLC that December.

However, according to the man himself, that wasn’t always the plan.

While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, the veteran said that his victory was very much an afterthought.

“I had won the Money in the Bank, and the only reason I won the Money in the Bank is because they had two Money in the Banks. They had one for Raw and one for SmackDown. They knew for sure they wanted Alberto Del Rio to win the Raw one. On the SmackDown one, they thought they wanted Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, or me.

On the day of the show, they all decided it was me because they didn’t want a bad guy to win the Money in the Bank on the SmackDown side because they had a bad guy winning it on the Raw side. But the most important thing was the Alberto Del Rio thing… They inserted me in a story with Big Show and Mark Henry… but then, Mark Henry got hurt. This was at the TLC pay-per-view in 2011.

Mark Henry gets hurt. I wasn’t scheduled to be at the pay-per-view. I had a Walmart signing that same day in Baltimore with Kelly Kelly, and came over to the building because Brie (Bella) was there; I think Brie had a match on the show.

So, I was there, and then Vince (McMahon) found out. Just because I happened to be there, they’re like, ‘It’ll be shocking that Daniel Bryan comes in and cashes in on Big Show…’ It was just a circumstance.”

Bryan Danielson “Effectively” Retired

During the same interview, Bryan Danielson admitted that he’s all but retired, even if he doesn’t want to officially “use the r-word.” Danielson has been dealing with serious neck issues for several years, and these problems eventually forced him out of the ring in 2024.

At the time, the former WWE and AEW World Champion expressed his desire to keep wrestling part-time, but he’s now conceded that this is likely impossible.

Since wrestling his last match at WrestleDream, Danielson has joined the AEW commentary team.

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H/t to Fightful