Bryan Danielson Explains Why He Hasn't Had A Run As AEW World Champion

Bryan Danielson was one of the first major names to switch from WWE to AEW when he left to become All Elite in 2021. He's enjoyed a prominent run in the promotion, littered with marquee matches on some of the biggest cards, but has yet to win a title. Fans familiar with his exploits in WWE and before that in ROH have shared reservations over that fact, the discourse particularly rearing its head after each of his eight attempts at gold thus far. Danielson said during a recent SXSW Panel that although he doesn't foresee his time in wrestling coming to a conclusive end soon, one last title run is not his chief focus. 

"I don't use the R-word [retire], I already had to do that once and I don't want to do it again. I want to leave it open to wrestle when I'm 75 if I so choose," he said, "One of the things I loved about AEW, and just the idea of it, is that it made the pro wrestling industry healthier. So, when I look at that, how do I make this industry that I love, that I've loved since I was a child, healthier? And the idea is to pass on what stardom I have been given, to try and pass it on to the younger wrestlers." 

Danielson directly answered the criticism that he should have a title run, "No, the champions we've had have been great. "Hangman" was a great champion. MJF was a great champion. It elevated these younger people, to now, these people are stars ... It would be easy to just take stars of the past and make them your champion and make them your top guy, that's the easy way. It's much harder to take somebody like MJF, who had not been on national television, and turn him into a star that draws ratings. That was my bigger goal, to transfer stardom from one generation to another."