Bryan Danielson has come to terms with the possibility of retiring if he loses at All Elite Wrestling’s upcoming pay-per-view event, All In, in London, England on August 25. Danielson will challenge AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland for the title at Wembley Stadium with over 40 thousand fans in attendance. To raise the stakes, “The American Dragon” has accepted the stipulation to retire if he loses the match.
In an interview with the BBC’s Paul Frank, Danielson spoke openly about putting his career on the line and shared that he has accepted the possibility of retiring at All In.
“…I’m very much at peace with it(Retirement). If I wasn’t at peace with it, we wouldn’t have done that, right,” said Danielson. He continued, “… I’ve been wrestling for 25 years now at this point, and to me, it’s now or nothing. You know what I mean as far as winning the AEW World Championship. I came in and said I was going to kick people’s heads in, and I was going to win the AEW World Championship, and I’ve kicked a lot of people’s heads in but haven’t won a single title.”
Danielson noted that AEW Backstage Interviewer Alex Marvez shared the number of title matches he’s failed to win. In fact, “The American Dragon” hasn’t held a championship since he was the WWE SmackDown Tag Team with Erick Rowan in 2019. All In presents one final chance to win gold before his career ends. However, he is also at content with retiring with a defeat to Strickland.
Bryan Danielson On Family Helping His Decision To Potentially Retire
Danielson admits in the interview that one of the reasons that he has accepted potentially retiring is being with his family. He noted that as his daughter gets older, she notices when he gets hurt and doesn’t like it. The AEW superstar feels he is in a different stage of his life compared to his retirement from WWE in 2016, which is to walk away from in-ring competition finally.
“… My life is just different now. When I was forced to retire, I wasn’t ready. 2015 was kind of my last match, but you know, I was forced to retire in 2016, but at that point, I’m 35 years old and I’m just like this doesn’t feel right. I also didn’t have anything else to like, really put my focus and my attention towards, and now I do. Now I have a wonderful family that I really excited about spending time with and that sort of nothing. So yeah, it’s a very different place when it’s by choice rather than you’re forced.”
Despite being open to retirement, fans should expect Danielson to compete with everything he has to win the AEW World Championship. He has shown throughout his career that he can rise to the occasion when the odds are stacked against him.