Bryan Danielson recently did an interview with Sports Illustrated, where he discussed a wide range of topics, including why he doesn’t want to be in the World Heavyweight Title picture.
Danielson is hours away from facing Shingo Takagi in an Owen Hart Foundation Tournament first-round match at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door tonight
“I don’t want to be in that [world champion] position–I don’t feel like that’s my position anymore,” Danielson told Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. “The quality of wrestling in AEW is so high, it’s really hard to main-event pay-per-views. That’s not something my body can really do anymore. I know there are a percentage of fans who would like that, but I don’t think it’s my place. And here’s the truth: I don’t want anything to do creatively with my own stuff. I also don’t know where people get the notion that I do. It’s very hard in wrestling to be objective about yourself, so I leave that in the hands of other people.
“That was the same thing in WWE, even when I was part of the creative team. The head writer of SmackDown at the time, Ryan Callahan, asked me what I wanted to do, and I remember saying I didn’t want to talk about what I wanted to do. I don’t think you can be objective about that stuff.”