Bryan Danielson Reflects On Wrestling By His Own Playbook Ahead Of AEW WrestleDream

AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson is set to have one of his biggest challenges since signing with the promotion when he takes on Jon Moxley at this weekend's AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view. "The American Dragon" has often been praised for his in-ring ability and style, and in an interview for Yahoo Sports' "Uncrowned," he explained what he does that's different to the WWE style — and how he's retained this philosophy.

"I loved wrestling at WWE and the people at WWE, so this is not a knock on them," Danielson said. "They have their playbook, and [Paul "Triple H" Levesque] will talk about this. They send people to NXT because you have to come and learn their playbook, which is very successful. I've kind of always liked wrestling under my own playbook and experimenting with different plays. That's been very rewarding."

Danielson further expressed how proud he is of his independent background, recalling how he wrestled all over the world, where he experienced different atmospheres. He noted that his current position in AEW allowed him to wrestle in Arena México twice this year for CMLL, which he hadn't done prior to joining the company.

"The reality that I've come to is that I've always done wrestling that isn't necessarily for the fans, but kind of for myself because I love to do this, I love the act of wrestling," Danielson admitted. 

The AEW World Champion also claimed that competing during the pandemic proved to him how deep his love for wrestling is, as he began to wonder whether he wrestled for the fan reaction or the actual sport. Since Danielson is at the last leg of his career, he'll likely take every opportunity to embrace his love of the sport, especially when he takes on Moxley this weekend.