Bryan Danielson admits he began losing strength during his recent AEW Dynamite match with Kazuchika Okada.
The 5th anniversary edition of AEW Dynamite on October 2nd saw Bryan Danielson go head to head in a champion vs. champion match with Kazuchika Okada. While Danielson’s AEW World Championship was on the line for the entire match, Okada’s Continental Championship was only in contention for the first 20 minutes of the bout.
In the end, Danielson was victorious, but as it took him 32 minutes to defeat Okada, he did not capture the Continental Championship.
Speaking in a new interview with Anthony Sulla-Heffinger for Uncrowned, Bryan Danielson admitted he began to lose strength in his legs during the match, an indication that his persistent neck issues were once again rearing their ugly head.
“Midway through the match, I started losing strength in my legs. There’s a point later in the match where I’m trying to kick him and I can’t turn over my kicks. That’s something that I have the body mechanics to do because I have been doing it for so long, but here I am and I can’t turn my hip over for this kick.
When I got to the back, I went to the trainer right away and they worked on me for like 30 minutes. They said it was stemming from the neck stuff. It’s getting to a point where, physically, we’re seeing the signs. I haven’t been sleeping well because I have been having this shooting pain down my arm.”
Bryan Danielson Is “Mentally Ready” To Retire
Bryan Danielson has made it clear that his time in the squared circle is soon coming to an end, and continuing in the interview, he says his recent physical condition makes the decision easier.
“It would have been really hard to be done wrestling if I felt great, right? I love it so much, I still love it so much. I get out there and it’s a rush, when I’m out there I don’t feel pain. Wednesday, I just noticed it and there was this awareness that I didn’t have the strength in my legs that I normally have. That’s the point where it’s getting kind of hard.”
Danielson also compared his impending retirement to the time he was forced to step away from competition in WWE in 2016.
“I can tell the difference [in retirement scenarios] just by my emotional state. It was this huge, deflating moment when they told me that I couldn’t come back [in WWE]. It was like this part of me almost died. With this, I honestly feel like I am mentally ready, and part of it is because of my physical struggles. Then, Brie [Garcia, Danielson’s wife] and I were married but didn’t have kids yet so we didn’t have this life that we have now, where I love coming home and being with my kids.”
Recently details of Bryan Danielson’s neck injury have been revealed.