In late 2021, almost three years since its launch, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) shook up the professional wrestling landscape when it was revealed that one of WWE’s biggest names, Bryan Danielson (or Daniel Bryan in his WWE days), had defected to the competition.
After a decade-plus run in the biggest company in the game, in which he rose to become one of the fan-favourites, Washington-born Danielson became All Elite, and proved that the company that was only founded in 2019 needed to be taken seriously.
Alongside the likes of Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, MJF, “Hangman” Adam Page, wrestling legend Chris Jericho, Swerve Strickland, and New-Zealand-born-Australian-raised Toni Storm, Danielson has been an integral part of the growth of AEW, even after his in-ring retirement in 2024.
In recent months, AEW has held major PPV events like All In in Texas and Forbidden Door at London’s O2 Arena just weeks ago, and, after hosting the inaugural AEW Grand Slam Australia in Brisbane earlier this year, it will return Down Under with shows in Brisbane and Sydney in 2026.
AEW is on the up but it’s still in its infant years, so one would assume it’s a big call for a solidified star to make the move from the billion-dollar company that is WWE.
But speaking to Rolling Stone AU/NZ while in town to promote next year’s shows, Danielson said that was what excited him about the new venture.
“One of the things that I was thinking about is in these twilight years of my actual wrestling career, where I’m still able to perform at a high level, what would I like to do? Would I like to keep doing what I’m doing? Or would I like to try something different?” he says.
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“I firmly believe it’s better for the industry and for the wrestlers to have two strong companies in the United States that are both doing well. One of the things that I was thinking about is, ‘If the idea is to give back, where can I give back in the best way possible?’ And so, was one of the things I was thinking about in making the jump to AEW.”
Danielson had a momentous rise in the WWE, particularly in early 2014, when fans hijacked TV tapings with his famous “Yes!” chants, demanding that their new favourite star be inserted into the main event picture. Due to the overwhelming support for Danielson, creative plans were changed and he was inserted into the main event of their flagship Wrestlemania event where he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Fast forward to the COVID pandemic, in which WWE was still producing shows to empty stands — an era known as the “Thunderdome” — and Danielson’s push had slowed. He was still one of the top baby faces (wrestling term for good guys), but upper brass were not showcasing him as a main event talent, up until one of his final programs where he feuded with then-Universal Champion Roman Reigns and now-AEW star Adam “Edge” Copeland in the main event of Wrestlemania 37 in 2021.
Danielson admits that, towards the end of his WWE run, he was not being pushed as a top star — but he holds no grudges.
“Not only did they not want to necessarily put me in that top spot — although to be fair, they did put me in that top spot to main event WrestleMania, that wasn’t me like, ‘Hey, I should be in this triple threat match with Roman Reigns and Edge’ — that wasn’t my desire at all. But I was of the opinion that that should not be my role here. We need to create new stars. In WWE, you get this legacy popularity, right? But that doesn’t mean that you should be the guy that the company is built around.
“I think it’s impossible for people to be objective about their own careers in professional wrestling. For example, rugby. If you score a lot, you know objectively how good you are. If you’re the leading scorer in the league, you know objectively how good you are.
“Within professional wrestling, there’s no objectivity to say like, ‘Okay, who should be where?’ It’s like you have to be given an opportunity to be in the top spot. Subjectively, I didn’t think that that should be my spot at my age with my injuries. This is the same thing that I said to [AEW President] Tony Khan. I said, ‘I love wrestling. I will go out there and I will give you the best that I can in the ring. But with my injury history, I’m a little unreliable.'”
It turned out to be true when he made the switch to AEW. Though he started strong and performed at the same high quality that makes many fans consider him one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, injuries soon took over. From 2022 up until his retirement, Danielson suffered a number of serious injuries: a concussion, torn shoulders and labrums, a broken arm.
It was becoming clear that the end was near for the American Dragon.
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“One of the last matches I had on [AEW’s flagship show] Dynamite was against Kazuchika Okada and it was a title versus title match. He has the Continental Championship, which is only on the line for the first 20 minutes, and I’m the world champion, right? Which is 60 minutes if you need it to be,” he recalls.
“The story of that match should be, I’m pushing the pace. If I’m beat him, I need to beat him in the first 20 minutes so that I can win this Continental Championship. The problem is that I’ve never had a problem with cardio in my entire career. I never get tired, right? I can push the pace, push the pace, push the pace, push the pace. My legs weren’t working. And so I got out there and that was the story, like that should have been the story. And we get out there and I can’t do it. I literally can’t do it.
“And it’s not that I’m tired, it’s just my legs won’t function the way I need them to function. Like my brain is telling my legs, do this thing, and my legs are not doing the thing, right? It can be a little bit scary when that happens, but it’s also very frustrating, because in my mind, this match should have gone this way, and it would have been more exciting, more engaging… as somebody who holds himself to very high standards, that was disappointing to me and it has nothing to do with Okada, it’s all on me.
“It was just an acknowledgement of like, ‘Okay, this is the right time to get out because something bad could really happen.'”
The tension between WWE and AEW — at least with some online wrestling fans who like to take sides — has continued over recent years, particularly as other wrestlers have bounced between the two companies.
Now-WWE Champion and face of the brand, Cody Rhodes, was one of the founders of AEW before he returned in 2022; CM Punk famously walked out of the WWE in 2014 and made his return to pro wrestling with AEW in 2021, before also heading back to the WWE in 2023; some of AEW’s household names like Strickland and Moxley first made it big in the WWE. The legendary Adam “Edge” Copeland and Christian Cage now also represent AEW despite being one of the most famous WWE tag teams of all time. And, of course, there’s Danielson.
But according to the 44-year-old star, that tribalism doesn’t exist amongst the wrestlers.
“I think most AEW wrestlers have people that they know and love who work for WWE, and I think a lot of people in WWE have people that work for AEW that they know and love,” he says.
“This idea of the wrestlers wanting AEW to fail, if that does exist, it shouldn’t exist. And the same thing with AEW. Nobody in AEW wants to see WWE tank. We have friends there. I’m friends with people in WWE. My sister-in-law [Nikki Bella] works for WWE! I want them to do great and produce the product that they do and enjoy it.”
Danielson was caught in the line of fire earlier this year when some comments he made went viral online for all the wrong reasons: “Listen, I’m not afraid to be critical of a creative process. When I was in WWE I would say, ‘Okay, sometimes this feels like a parody of wrestling to me.’ I wrote that in my book that was put out by WWE. Even now, WWE seems like a parody of wrestling to me at times.”
But, as he explains, context is everything. He doesn’t care what people are online are saying, anyway.
“I was saying something about how good creatively AEW has been this year. So I’m not saying this to blow smoke up to my boss or kiss up to Tony Khan or whatever it is. And I used an example of, I wrote a book that was put out by WWE where in that book, I called WWE a parody of wrestling, right? I’m not saying I’m watching WWE right now and it’s a parody of wrestling,” he laughs.
“I do believe that we produce the best in-ring product in the world But that’s because that’s our focus. WWE does focus on more the entertainment side. But does that mean that WWE doesn’t produce good matches? No, it doesn’t. They produce some great matches. It’s just that’s not their focus.
“What we present is more of an athletic sports based hard hitting, high flying style that you’re not going to see anywhere else.”
Though he’s retired from in-ring competition now, Danielson is still heavily involved in AEW. As well as being a newly-announced commentator for Dynamite moving forward, he will help out wherever and however he can. He even plans to head back to Australia next year for the shows.
“When people come and say, ‘Hey Bryan, I’m struggling with this, can you help me with this?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ Sometimes it’s pitching ideas for stories. Sometimes it’s in-ring wrestling.
“But that’s where I feel my role is now is I help where I can. The places where I don’t have any control over, I just gotta let those things go. And then when I’m at home, focus on being a father and a great husband.”
AEW will hit Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday, February 14th, and Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Sunday, February 15th. Click here for more details.
