Bryan Danielson Says He Knew It Was Time To Step Away From The Ring After Match With Will Ospreay At AEW Dynasty
Danielson’s neck got worse after the bout.
Since losing the AEW World Championship at WrestleDream 2024, Bryan Danielson has made non-televised appearances for AEW, and he came back to their programming to be involved in the main event of All In Texas.
Danielson has spoken in the past about how his neck was giving him trouble towards the backend of his run in AEW. While doing a stage show at Starrcast (video via All Elite Hub), Danielson stated that he knew it was time to step away after the match he had with Will Ospreay at the 2024 Dynasty pay-per-view.
He said his neck got progressively worse after that. Danielson got an MRI after the Owen Hart Cup match against Shingo Takagi and said the results were not great. Danielson began to question whether they should go through with him challenging for the World Title at All In 2024.
“After the Ospreay match (I knew it was time to step away from the ring). My neck has been bad for 10-plus years. I had a neck surgery in 2014. My neck never really came back to where it was before. I was always kind of in a little bit of pain, and then after I wrestled Will — Will is such an incredible athlete, and I am such a stupid man… He can do things that nobody I’ve ever wrestled can do, and because he can do things that nobody I’ve ever wrestled can do, I put myself in a position where I didn’t actually know what I was doing and didn’t ask him what I should do, and so then I landed on my head, and then from there, my neck just got progressively worse. I’d gotten an MRI right after the match with Shingo (Takagi) that was in the Owen Hart Cup last year and the MRI was not great, and yeah, I questioned whether we should even do what we were going to do. It was at that point and then I stopped being able to sleep for more than three or four hours at a time and then it just got to a point where I was just like, ‘Okay, I can’t go on like this…’ I have two relatively young kids and when you talk about, okay, where you put your focus, where you put your attention is the most important thing in your life, right? Am I putting my focus and my attention on these kids who need me and who need to be loved by me?”
Elsewhere during this discussion, Danielson revealed that he was contacted by WWE during All In Texas weekend. To read his comments, click here.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit the original source with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
