Former WWE, AEW World Champ Bryan Danielson Puts A Number On Odds He'll Wrestle Again

It's been nearly six months since Bryan Danielson retired from being a full-time professional wrestler, but the notion of retiring from full-time action has given fans hope that the 'American Dragon' will one day get back in the ring once he is healthy enough to compete. However, Danielson was extremely hurt by the time he lost the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley in October 2024, to the point where in an interview with Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, Danielson is thinking about life without wrestling more and more.

"My priority is my health," Danielson said. "I think the odds of me wrestling again, ever, are probably 50/50 at this point. My desire is to not get neck surgery, and so if I could–this idea of 'living comfortably,' if I could live comfortably without neck surgery, but it means that I wouldn't get to wrestle again, I think I'd be okay with that trade-off. I had neck surgery before and it wasn't a good experience, and it kind of messed up my spine in the upper area for the rest of my life, like now my spine is altered. So it's like 'okay, if we can get to a point where I'm a little bit more comfortable without needing neck surgery but they say you can't wrestle anymore, I think that's a fair trade-off. I had a good run kid."

It was originally reported after Danielson's full-time retirement that he was considering stem cell treatment to avoid surgery as he knew going under the knife could keep him out of action indefinitely. However, it has not been confirmed whether Danielson has had any sort of treatment, or if he is even medically cleared to do anything wrestling related in the immediate future.

Please credit "Fightful" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.