Bryan Danielson gives an update on his health and why he personally doesn't want to be AEW World Champion.
With Bryan Danielson gearing up for his last match as a full-time wrestler in the coming months, he is slated for a showdown with Shingo Takagi at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. With a history of neck problems that have caused him to have periods of his career where he could not wrestle, Bryan Danielson reveals that his neck is not in the best shape ahead of the match with Shingo but he is healthy and ready to wrestle.
“My neck isn’t doing so great right now,” said Danielson to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. “This is my chance to wrestle Shingo again, and Forbidden Door is one of my favorite pay-per-views. That’s because of the uniqueness of it. Five years ago, multiple promotions didn’t work together to put on a super show. Now CMLL and Stardom are involved. This didn’t exist before. I love this show.”
This match on the show is part of the Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament and the winner of the tournament will wrestle for AEW's top prize later this summer at Wembley Stadium at AEW All In. A multi-time WWE Champion, Danielson says he doesn't feel like he is in a position where he needs to be competing for the AEW World Championship and also debunks the idea that he has creative control over his angles.
“I don’t want to be in that [world champion] position–I don’t feel like that’s my position anymore,” said Danielson. “The quality of wrestling in AEW is so high, it’s really hard to main-event pay-per-views. That’s not something my body can really do anymore. I know there are a percentage of fans who would like that, but I don’t think it’s my place. And here’s the truth: I don’t want anything to do creatively with my own stuff. I also don’t know where people get the notion that I do. It’s very hard in wrestling to be objective about yourself, so I leave that in the hands of other people.
“That was the same thing in WWE, even when I was part of the creative team. The head writer of SmackDown at the time, Ryan Callahan, asked me what I wanted to do, and I remember saying I didn’t want to talk about what I wanted to do. I don’t think you can be objective about that stuff.”
Fans can check out the lineup for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door by clicking here.
Fightful will have coverage of the show on Sunday, June 30.
