Bryan Danielson has discussed his condition following the end of his full-time career.
At AEW WrestleDream, Bryan Danielson’s loss to Jon Moxley signalled the end of his full-time wrestling career, and, given the 43-year-old’s longstanding neck issues, fans understandably have questions regarding when, or even if, he will return to the ring. Now, ‘The American Dragon’ has given an update on his condition and how he views his future.
Speaking on the Nikki & Brie Show, Bryan admitted that he’s unsure about what the future holds with regard to his neck, but still stated his reluctance to use the word ‘retirement’ following his loss on October 12.
“I was very cautious to not say ‘retirement,’ except for the match where if I lost (against Swerve), I would retire. After that, it was all, ‘the end of my full-time wrestling career.’ We don’t know what’s going to happen with my neck, but it honestly feels like I have a bobblehead,”
-Bryan Danielson
Continuing his thoughts on the word ‘retirement’, Danielson said that being forced to hang up his boots in 2016 made him realise that the hardest part of a retirement falls on the person themselves.
“To me, at the end of the day, I realized this with my last retirement, which was forced. I didn’t want to retire, but they wouldn’t let me wrestle again. What I found is people are sad for a bit. Then, everybody just moves on and it doesn’t matter. The hardest part for it is probably for the person who does it,”
-Bryan Danielson
Danielson’s wife Brie noted that she was keen to create a social media post reflecting on her husband full-time career after WrestleDream, but elected not to after Bryan maintained that wrestlers are never fully retired. While his future remains uncertain, it was confirmed during that podcast appearance that the former AEW World Champion still needs to get neck surgery before anything can be known about an in-ring return.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the condition of Bryan Danielson as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
