It's unclear if Bryan Danielson will wrestle again, but he doesn't consider himself retired.
Danielson appeared on recently, more than a month after his full-time career ended with a loss to Jon Moxley at AEW WrestleDream. Danielson clarified that he was careful not to use the word “retirement” in the lead-up to the game.
“I was very careful not to say 'retire' except for the match where I would forfeit if I lost (At All In vs. Swerve Strickland). But after that, everything was “the end of my full-time wrestling career.” But honestly I feel like – we don’t know what’s going to happen to my neck – but it honestly feels like I have a bobble head.”
Brie mentioned that Danielson needs neck surgery. Last month, our contributor Dave Meltzer reported that Danielson was hoping to avoid surgery through stem cell treatment. His return to the ring depends on whether he needs surgery and how well the surgery goes if he does have it.
Brie also mentioned that she wanted to create a celebratory post after his last match, but Danielson said he would rather not do it, saying, “As wrestlers, we're never completely retired.”
Danielson continued:
“I realized this during my last forced retirement. I didn't want to retire, but they wouldn't let me wrestle again. But what I've found is that people are sad for a while, they're sad so often, but then everyone just moves on and it doesn't matter.”
Shortly after Danielson's loss to Moxley at WrestleDream, our Dave Meltzer provided an update on Danielson's health
Meltzer wrote:
“What is happening to Danielson concerns the condition of his neck. He will have an MRI done to see the damage. He had an MRI done not long ago, which showed damage extending to his neck. What happens next depends on whether the damage is the same or has worsened and whether [so]at what time. The hope is that he won't need surgery and can get sufficiently healthy with stem cell therapy. If not, he will have to undergo surgery. If or when he can return to the ring depends on how well everything goes,” Meltzer wrote. “She and he had always said about that game that it would be the end of his full-time career, not the end of his career.”
