AEW broadcaster and wrestling legend Bryan Danielson recently offered a reflective and heartfelt perspective on his in-ring future, stating that he feels “infinitely more content” with the idea of retiring on his own terms. Danielson, who has been sidelined with a serious injury since October 2024, has been candid about the possibility of never wrestling again. His comments provide a poignant contrast to his forced retirement in 2016 and highlight the profound difference between making a personal choice to step away from the ring versus having that decision made for you by medical circumstances. His perspective as a performer who has experienced both scenarios is a powerful one.
Speaking with The Wide World of Sports, “The American Dragon” discussed his current mindset regarding his career.
“I feel infinitely more content, honestly. My life has changed and it’s different when it’s your own decision as opposed to when you’re not allowed to do this thing that you love anymore.”
He also reflected on his last major match, the AEW World Championship match against Jon Moxley at WrestleDream 2024, and the gratitude he feels for his career.
“Yeah 100 percent – that was definitely a thought that I had, one of the things that I thought was that regardless of if I win or lose this match, it was being able to celebrate the end of my career with my family. If I win, great, I celebrate the title win with my family. If I lose, celebrate this incredible journey that I have been on, with my family, in the middle of the ring. Both things would have been great and the idea is that if it was going to be my last match, you want to give everything you have and don’t leave anything on the table. None of us necessarily deserve any of these things, I haven’t done anything to deserve 50,000 people in a stadium and my family being able to be there and main eventing the show … that’s how I look back on it, from a gratitude perspective.”
While he is content with the idea of retiring, Danielson acknowledged that he still gets the urge to return to the ring, but he is now prioritizing his health and his family above all else.
“It’s interesting, because you never say never – but there’s not an appeal to me to go out there and do that type of match that I did with Swerve Strickland. Sure, there’s the part when I’m watching it, I get super excited and think I would love to get back in there – but then it’s like, what are you talking about? My body physically can’t do some of those things anymore. If I’m going to do it, it can’t be at the scale that I did it before. If I tried to do some of the things I did in my last year with AEW right now, I don’t think I’d be able to go back and hold my kids. Anything that I would do moving forward has to be with that in mind, because that is now my number one priority. Stay healthy, be at home and play with my kids and coach my son’s tee-ball team.”
H/T to Fightful for the transcription. Thanks for checking out this article. Make sure to follow Jeff Jarrett and all things GFE on Facebook.