Tony Khan Opens Up On Bryan Danielson’s New Role In AEW

Bryan Danielson is taking up an interesting new AEW role.

On September 6, Tony Khan announced that Bryan Danielson would be joining the commentary team on AEW Dynamite full-time. The American Dragon proved to be a big hit with fans in the role during Forbidden Door.

The role represents Danielson’s first real on-screen position since he ended his full-time career at WrestleDream in October 2024.

During an interview on the Battleground podcast, Khan opened up about the decision to move Danielson onto commentary and why he believes he’ll be such an asset.

“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.”

Bryan Danielson Drops Fresh Retirement Hint

Meanwhile, Bryan Danielson has again hinted that he won’t be getting back in the ring. During a recent interview, the star admitted there’s nothing left on his wrestling bucket list, as he explained why he felt “ready” to step away from the ring when he did.

He described himself as “fulfiled” by his career, in a way that he wasn’t when he was forced into retirement while with WWE almost a decade ago.

Speaking back in July, Bryan Danielson admitted he was unsure whether he could even complete his last match given the amount of pain he was in at the time. The star had previously revealed that he damaged his neck while wrestling Will Ospreay at Dynasty six months earlier.

H/t to Fightful