The G1 tournament seems to be out for Bryan Danielson.
Dating back to his time in WWE, Bryan Danielson was open about his desire to compete in the annual NJPW G1 Climax tournament. The round robin tournament is arguably the most grueling month of wrestling a competitor can go through, Danielson has seemingly come to grips with the fact that he won't be able to compete in the tournament.
“I’d love to be able to go back to Japan, but I just don’t know if that’s a realistic possibility for me at this point in my career,” said Danielson in an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. “I’ve always wanted to do the G1, but now that’s starting to fade. At this point in my life, it wouldn’t make sense. I love watching Tanahashi matches. And Okada. Shingo, Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr. When I watch, I realize how good they are. I loved watching Kenny’s matches when he was in New Japan. I thought I would need to go to Japan to wrestle the style I wanted to wrestle. Then AEW started, and I came here. I have this whole full-time job in AEW, and I’m focused on everything I’m doing here. And as much as I like the idea of doing the G1, the whole idea of leaving my wife and kids for a month to go wrestle the hardest tournament in wrestling? At 42 while the injuries start to pile up? That’s one of those things that’s going to pass me by.”
He previously commented that doing a G1 tournament would be irresponsible for him at this stage. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
Danielson has said that this will be his last full-time year in wrestling as a promise to his daughter. Though he's winding down his full-time career, Danielson does plan to keep wrestling in some capacity in the years to come.
Danielson is set to challenge for the AEW TNT Championship against Christian Cage on Saturday's AEW Collision.
