Bryan Danielson is just here to have fun.
“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson pleasantly surprised AEW fans last year when he arrived at All Out. Since then, he went on to become one of the company’s top stars, most recently competing in a four-way match at Full Gear for the ROH World Championship. There, his efforts came up short, but overall, Danielson just wants to enjoy his remaining run in professional wrestling,
In 2016, Danielson — then under the ring name Daniel Bryan in WWE — was forced to retire from the sport due to a long series of concussions, and reported post-concussion related complications, including seizures. Two years later, Danielson received medical clearance, and returned to the ring. Now, he finds himself as a major player in All Elite Wrestling.
Danielson’s contract with AEW will extend through 2024, as he signed a three-year deal with the company back in 2021. Upon completion of his contract though, the former WWE Champion plans to take a step back from a full-time schedule. In speaking on One Fall with Ron Funches, Danielson discussed what his potential plans were in a post-AEW life, including his possible final match in professional wrestling.
“When my AEW contract is up, that’s pretty much me being done being a full-time wrestler,” he said. “But I like the way some people like Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler and those kind of guys do it where they do it for fun, right? And don’t do it all the time, they do it here or there, that sort of thing.”
By 2024, Danielson will be 43-years-old, with a hope to just have fun doing his passion. “It’s something I wanna continue doing for the rest of my life,” he said, barring any physical pain or injuries.
Staying Grateful
Danielson’s initial retirement announcement came almost 10 months after he last competed in a ring. In April 2015, he teamed with John Cena to defeated Cesaro and Tyson Kidd on an episode of SmackDown. It wasn’t until two months after that, that WWE told him he might never wrestle again. With that realization set in place, Bryan adopted a grateful mindset, because as in life, one never truly knows when it might be there last day, or in Bryan’s case, his last match.
With that mentality, Bryan doesn’t have a clear picture of what he wants his final match to look like, but would ideally wrestle up until two weeks before he dies. “But as it is now, it’d probably have to be like at least two weeks, if not a little bit before the day that I die,” he reiterated.
Danielson continued on to joke that his final match may end up “at some local indie in front of 300 people” that “just turns out to be my last match.” No matter how he ends his career though, “The American Dragon” declares every opportunity has he has to wrestle as “beautiful.”