Bryan Danielson says there was a third option for his professional wrestling career that didn’t involve WWE or AEW.
Bryan Danielson was a guest on WFAN’s Moose and Maggie show on Tuesday where he was asked about what convinced him to come over to All Elite Wrestling. Danielson said it wasn’t the case for him, and explained how it really came to down to his family life, adding that he almost considered staying home for several years to be there for his children.
“Oh no, there wasn’t any ‘convincing’ that Tony [Khan] could do. I’d already seen the product. It was a different situation, I was under contract with WWE,” Danielson said. “The hard thing for me is my loyalty to Vince McMahon. I have a great relationship [with Vince], I love that man. He’s done so much for my family and the things that I’ve learned and all that kind of stuff, and that was the hard thing.
“There was also—a lot of people look at it in terms of there being two options, you’re either going to be with WWE or AEW. But part of me was like, ‘I could just do an independent schedule where I don’t sign with anybody,’” Danielson said, before he was asked if he really considered that option.
“Yes I did, and I thought about not coming back at all in the sense of at least for the next couple of years. I wanted to take the summer off because my daughter started preschool and just being home with her. Her whole life, she’s 4, I’ve left every week, or almost every week. And just being able [to be home] — I loved it, she loved it,” he explained, “me being home every, single night.”
Danielson went on to say that they miss each other and still check in now that he’s traveling again, but there was a point where he considered staying home for his two childrens’ formative years.
“That was part of the thing, the idea of maybe stepping away until my son starts preschool so I could be there every day for him and every day for my daughter. But then, you just [question], ‘I’m missing the last, probably, four years of my productive athletic career’ and I might not be the same at 45 than I am at 40,” Danielson said. “So, yeah, lots of things to unpack there.”
The final question Danielson was asked pertained to how he intends to finish his career, and he said he’s looking at the next three years as the climax of his run as a full-time wrestler. Danielson said he’s not looking at this as his career “tapering off,” but rather it’s “the climax of my career, is these next three years, and it starts with tomorrow.”
If you use this transcript, credit WrestleZone and link back to this post.
Danielson also penned a new editorial to WWE, thanking them for what they did for his career. You can read the article at this link.
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