Bryan Danielson is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and he may very well retire at Wembley Stadium this weekend at AEW All In London.
The American Dragon, who was known as Daniel Bryan during time in WWE, is well known for his technical expertise, but it’s one of his more ‘absurd’ comedic moments that he remembers most fondly.
Reflecting on his odd couple Team Hell No partnership with Kane ‘People think, “What would you be the most proud of in WWE? WrestleMania 30.”
‘One of the things I’m most proud of is I did a 10-minute live segment on Raw with Kane where we were attempting to hug each other. And it lasted over 10 minutes, and there’s two grown men just trying to hug each other.
‘So yes, I love the AEW style, I’m very sporting, but I also love the absurdity of two grown men trying to hug each other for 10 minutes and not quite knowing how to do it.’\
Danielson admitted he doesn’t like ‘weird mixes’ in wrestling that combine humour and the more serious sporting edge, but he’ll throw himself wholeheartedly into either extreme.
‘It’s weird, because I don’t like things that are in the middle,’ he laughed. ‘I wanna do either super serious, sports style wrestling, or I wanna go way over the top!’
He embraces that absurdity, and so it’s no surprise he would have been content spending his days wrestling at Butlins holiday camps up and down the UK, as he did for much of his early career.
‘I would tell people, if [British wrestling promoter] Brian Dixon paid me a little bit more, I would never have left Butlins. I would still be in Butlins now, doing my thing,’ he said earnestly.
Last year, Danielson’s longtime wrestling rival Nigel McGuinness told us how playing ‘UK Kane’ – a spoof of the iconic WWE character – was a ‘career low’, but the American Dragon sees it very differently.
‘If you’d told me to play Kane at Butlins, I would’ve been like, “Oh this is great,”‘ he said, before recalling the first time he ever had to perform Rey Mysterio’s legendary 619 move.
He chuckled: ‘It wasn’t for a Butlins show but it was one of the town shows with Gangrel. and I had never done a 619 before. And just because I was wearing a mask, he was like, “Hey, I bet they’re really gonna love a 619, gimme a 619”.
‘And it was in the ring he said that. I was like, “I don’t know if I can do this!” ‘
It’s been a long and storied career for the decorated and influential wrestler, but if he loses to current AEW World Heavyweight Champion Swerve Strickland on Sunday night at Wembley Stadium, it could all be over.
‘So… the idea of being at peace is something – I try to be at peace with every outcome imaginable, right? So, with that said, yes,’ he said when asked if he was ready to retire.
He quickly added: ‘But – because I say that, because that’s my natural inclination, “Are you at peace with it? Yeah!” And people are like, “Argh! Bryan’s at peace with losing! He doesn’t care about the AEW Title! Ha Ha ha!”
‘But you and I are just talking, and yeah, I try to be peace with whatever happens, right? That’s the reality.’
Fans should never mistake that for complacency though, as Danielson’s heart still beats for wrestling, and he still takes so much joy from being around the business.
‘The thing that really drives me from a wrestling standpoint is how much artistic fulfillment I get from it. And then the joy of just doing it! And especially knowing that that time, at some point, is coming to an end relatively soon,’ he pondered.
‘It’s kind of an absurd concept, even what pro wrestling is. But to me, out of all the things I’ve done in my life, the funnest thing to do is professional wrestling.’
‘The thing that really drives me from a wrestling standpoint is how much artistic fulfillment I get from it. And then the joy of just doing it! And especially knowing that that time, at some point, is coming to an end relatively soon,’ he pondered.
‘It’s kind of an absurd concept, even what pro wrestling is. But to me, out of all the things I’ve done in my life, the funnest thing to do is professional wrestling.’
