Bryan Danielson provides the latest update on his in-ring future.
‘The American Dragon’ has been out of action for well over a year at this point, last wrestling against Jon Moxley at the WrestleDream pay-per-view in 2024. Danielson has been open about his future in interviews, ruling out a full-time return while still being unsure about making a return for even one or two matches.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet for a new interview, Danielson provided a detailed description of his neck issues and how he’s trying to avoid surgery.
“So I have degeneration from C1 all the way down to T2. [Your entire neck?] Yeah. So it’s like I’m on the cusp of needing surgery. It’s this weird line. I’d like to avoid surgery as much as possible. So my last neck surgery, I never fully recovered from it in the sense of getting back the strength gains and the mobility and all that sort of thing. So I’d really like to avoid it as much as possible, especially because my son is a menace. I had a broken arm, you have a big cast, I’m in a sling. I was like, ‘Buddy, you can’t touch daddy’s arm.’ And he’s jumping on my arm and all this kind of stuff. And I’m just like, Oh no, if I get neck surgery, it’s not like you wear a neck brace, not like you walk around in a neck brace. He’s pure boy. No matter how many times Brie tells him, and I tell him, but not as forcefully as Brie does, but Brie is, like, ‘Get off of daddy’s neck!’ And he just can’t not do it. It’s just like a boy thing. Our daughter is super good about it, but he’s all boy.”
Van Vliet proceeded to ask Danielson if he’s retired from the ring.
“I hate the R word because I was forced to retire before. So I never consider myself fully retired. This is how I think, and this is how a lot of wrestlers think, Well, I think I could do this in this situation, if needed, or called upon, or whatever it is. But effectively for the Bryan Danielson that I used to be, yeah, that guy doesn’t exist anymore.”
Bryan Danielson currently appears on weekly episodes of AEW Dynamite as a commentator.
good on bryan for always staying one step ahead of nigel mcguinness
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet for a new interview, Danielson talked about how he wasn’t anticipating the new role and how the weekly travel has been difficult for him.
“It’s been interesting because I wasn’t anticipating being a commentator. So I was at home, and then they asked me to come in because Taz was getting shoulder surgery, and to come and help out a little bit. But traveling has been difficult for me. That’s one of the things I didn’t expect, because I’ve traveled my entire adult life. It’s no big deal. But with my neck as bad as it is, all of a sudden, it was almost, gosh. It was like eight or nine months where I was only traveling maybe once a month. I’d go to the pay-per-views and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, the weekly travel has been a lot, and it’s just been made sleeping hard and that sort of thing.”
‘The American Dragon’ went on to specifically detail some of the issues that he has faced with his travel.
“It’s also just lugging luggage around. So I typically just have a carry-on in a backpack, or whatever it is. But then it’s like being uncomfortable in the chair. I’ve made some adjustments, so I have a cervical pillow now that I travel with me, because for a while I was just sleeping with one of those hand towels underneath my neck, just so it’s not being pushed up or anything like that. But it’s impossible. I live on the West Coast, and then I also live an hour and a half to two hours from the airport, so it’s impossible for all these cross-country flights to stay in good posture the whole time, that kind of stuff. And then, heaven forbid, I fall asleep and I do this, and then I wake up like, oh no, I can’t feel my hand.”
