It was as he spoke with wdel.com that Bryan Danielson looked back on a difficult time in his career…a period when he announced that he needed to retire from professional wrestling. He sheds some light onto why that happened and perhaps even suggesting that his hand was forced in the matter. This announcement was made in 2015.
Of course he would return to active competition in WWE, and of course now AEW, where perhaps we haven’t even scratched the surface yet as to what he can bring to the game.
On his time away from active competition, Danielson said:
“…I legitimately thought I was healthy and still think that I’m healthy. One of the reasons I was forced to retire was not because of the concussions, but because I lied about that. You have to understand, from WWE’s point of view, I had been wrestling for them for six years but then all of a sudden, they opened this Pandora’s box about ‘lying about his medical history and now we can’t trust him.”
via wdel.com /Wrestling Inc (Transcription)
On why he lied about his discussions:
“…It’s also my love of wrestling…It felt like I wasn’t really to be done yet, I still needed to come back. I also think there’s a lot left on concussion research to be done…I think your body adapts to so many things. We were actually just talking about this in the locker room; someone said every fall hurts now. I was like, really? I think it really depends on the crowd. When you wrestle in front of a rabid crowd, nothing hurts…”
via wdel.com /Wrestling Inc (Transcription)
On his routine now before a match and how he manages injury and stress on the road:
“…I do extensive warm-ups before I go out, and then every night when I get back to my hotel room after a show, I’m foam-rolling, I’m stretching, and making sure my body is in a healthy position to recover…I think for me, one of the hardest things is being on long plane trips. When you get to be 40 and you just wrestled a 30-minute match with Kenny Omega, no matter how much stretching you did, the next day, if you’re on a 6-hour plane trip, you’re going to hobble getting off the plane…”
via wdel.com /Wrestling Inc (Transcription)
And what about that epic showdown with Kenny Omega? Bryan said:
“…Realistically, I hadn’t wrestled in 5-months, I wrestled Kenny Omega for 30 minutes, and did a 6-hour plane trip the next day, and I felt pretty good. There are a lot of physical demands, but if you keep up with your body and maintain your body, it’s manageable…”
via wdel.com /Wrestling Inc (Transcription)
Bryan works out extensively with rubber bands and weights (functional and flexibility training principles) and has always kept in epic shape, but has looked particularly shredded since walking into AEW. Seems to be in the best shape of his life, and he sounds like it too judging by these comments.
The IIConics land at Impact Wrestling
Of course they’re now known, or rather will be known as The IInspiration, but it was announced and reported on by cultaholic.com. Although their signing had already been reported by PW Insider, according to cultaholic.com, a video package was prepared and unleashed during Saturday’s Knockouts Knockdown event—an all-female show for the promotion.
NEXT: The AEW vs. WWE War is Undoubtedly Heating Up
The IInspiration will be debuting at Bound For Glory, which is shaping up to be quite the event. It’s set to happen on October 23 in Vegas.
