Bryan Danielson is much loved by fans for his enormous dedication to this business, which has led him to squeeze his body a lot. His career as a professional wrestler seemed very close to its end several years ago, but Bryan never gave up and experienced an amazing run in All Elite Wrestling becoming one of the symbols of Tony Khan's company.
Everyone remembers his incredible triumph at 'All In 2024', when he won the AEW World Championship by defeating Swerve Strickland at Wembley. However, right now there is a feeling that his career is really at risk. Danielson is back to having neck problems and continuing to wrestle could jeopardize his future. His schedule was already very tight and the former WWE star will have to decide whether or not to retire by the end of this year.
According to reports from 'Wrestling Observer', Bryan would need very delicate neck surgery that could keep him away from the ring for over a year. 'The American Dragon' is taking all the time necessary before communicating this important decision, also supported by his wife Brie Bella.
Top analyst Dave Meltzer explained that Bryan's status does not leave too much room for optimism: "From what I have heard, Danielson will probably undergo stem cell treatment to see if he can avoid the surgery."
New details on Bryan Danielson
In a recent interview with ‘Bleacher Report’, the former WWE superstar reflected on his neck’s status: "My neck is trashed. But other than that, I feel good. One of the things that I'm good at is experiencing pain and it not necessarily affecting me much. It doesn't really affect my mental space The only thing that it does kind of affect is my parenting because our son is four and wild. He loves jumping on my back and jumping on my neck, and I'm like, 'Argh, stop!'"
He also added: "It affects my training and that sort of thing. But other than that, I feel good. The odds are, by the end of the year, I'm probably going to have to get neck surgery or whatever it is. But right now, it feels manageable. And when I get out and wrestle, I feel invincible. So that's not even a concern."
Although he has won a lot during his career, there is no doubt that injuries have profoundly affected the journey of a legend like Danielson. The current AEW star never wanted to play the victim, but injuries have haunted him for most of his career preventing him from shining even brighter.
A very tough decision
At this time, Bryan should only think about his future and do his best not to affect his daily life. Danielson has a beautiful family and many years ahead of him, which is why it would not make sense to take further risks to get back in the ring. A win or a loss would not affect his legacy in the slightest, which led him to become one of the best wrestlers of all time. Almost no one thought he could achieve such success when he made his WWE debut.
In the same interview, Bryan also revealed that his last WWE stint could have been very different if he hadn't been injured: “When I won the World Championship at WrestleMania 30, I wasn’t their guy. They still had plans, like, ‘Okay, we really want to transition to Roman Reigns being the guy.’ Vince McMahon legitimately sat me down and told me that. It was really funny because the conversation was like, ‘Okay, so we have these great plans—this is like a week after I had won the title or whatever—and we’ve got these big plans. We’ll have a couple of title defenses for you between now and SummerSlam, but at SummerSlam, you’ll wrestle Brock Lesnar and he’ll destroy you. Then we’ll build up Brock Lesnar for Roman Reigns, and Roman will be the next John Cena.
He’s telling this to me, and I’m like, ‘That’s great, but I would kind of like to be the next John Cena.’ I remember seeing the look on Vince’s face where he was just like, ‘Oh, I didn’t think you even saw that as a possibility for yourself.’ It was really funny. Then he—this is the only time Vince has ever backtracked with me—he said, ‘Well, nobody can really be the next John Cena, you know? It’s like, you know…’ But in his mind, I wasn’t the guy. I was just the guy they needed at that particular point because the fans wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”