Backstage Details On Bryan Danielson Wrapping Up Full-Time Career At AEW WrestleDream

Details pertaining to Bryan Danielson's final full-time run have reportedly emerged following his defeat at the hands of Jon Moxley at AEW WrestleDream.

Moxley won his fourth AEW World Championship in the main event, ending Danielson's full-time wrestling career via referee's stoppage before hammering things home with a post-match beatdown alongside a reunited Blackpool Combat Club. Fightful Select has since reported that Danielson specifically wanted it to be Moxley who ended his farewell title run. Per Fightful, "The American Dragon" went into the bout with a series of legitimate injuries which led him to second-guess his decision to work the three matches leading into the Tacoma event — a tag match alongside Wheeler Yuta against the BCC, a title vs. title match with Kazuchika Okada, and a non-title match with Nigel McGuinness.

The report also notes that Danielson had legitimately been working without a contract for the past few months, something Danielson had mentioned before challenging Swerve Strickland for the title at All In, and he is effectively a free agent. However, Fightful says AEW hopes Danielson will stay around the company, wrestling periodically and resuming other duties when he's ready to do so; Danielson himself said he would need to get his neck treated first, likely with surgery.

Even with doubts over his condition, AEW reportedly planned for Danielson to win the title from Strickland earlier in the year, and that had remained the plan from Strickland's own title win over Samoa Joe at Dynasty in April. Fightful claims that Strickland insisted on tapping to Danielson in that bout, rather than passing out or something similar, to kick-start Danielson's first and final world title run in AEW.