Bryan Danielson explains the main reason why he left WWE to sign with AEW
Bryan Danielson recently revealed in an interview the major reason for his AEW signing after wrestling in WWE for 12 years.
Danielson made his All Elite Wrestling debut in the aftermath of the All Out event on September 5, 2021. From there, he had a critically-acclaimed 30-minute time limit draw against Kenny Omega at the AEW Dynamite Grand Slam. He also challenged Hangman Page for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship at Winter is Coming, which ended in another draw, this time in 60 minutes.
In his latest interview with Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso, Danielson said that having freedom in his wrestling while competing with different personalities was the main drive of his AEW signing.
"I read this great book, "Four Thousand Weeks", and I was just telling my friend about it. The book says it’s about time management, but it’s actually a book about philosophy. The average lifespan is only 4,000 weeks. If you look at where I’m at now, I’m 2,000 weeks in, and I’ve got 2,000 weeks left. With all the craziness in the world, do I want to spend the rest of those weeks entertaining people? Or do I want to spend more time with my family? That’s actually one of the reasons why I chose AEW. It allows me the ability to have a little more freedom with my wrestling and wrestle different people with different styles, but it’s also to spend more time with my family," Danielson said. [H/T Wrestling Inc]
The #AmericanDragon @bryandanielson gets the victory in this opening bout tonight! An incredible match to kick off #AEWRampage LIVE from Vegas on @tntdrama right now! https://t.co/02aPhciOrt
The American Dragon will team up with his Blackpool Combat Club stablemates Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz to face the Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard and Angelo Parker) this Sunday at Double or Nothing 2022 in an "Anarchy in the Arena" match.
Bryan Danielson had hesitations in continuing to wrestle due to certain events
During the same interview, Bryan Danielson stated that while he is still wrestling just for himself, he also had concerns if he still wanted to do it due to the dangers from a recent real-life event.
The said event was about the shooting of 18-year Salvador Ramos at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas last May 24 that killed 19 students.
"It’s interesting, I’ve always felt a certain level of guilt in pro wrestling. I also love this thing so much. We actually had a really good conversation about this a couple weeks ago in the locker room. Yes, wrestling does help people, but I still do it for selfish reasons. The Texas shooting is horrible. It almost makes me go, ‘What am I doing right now? I should be home with my kids.’ This can be hard to explain," Danielson added. [H/T Wrestling Inc]
Bryan Danielson.
Wheeler Yuta.
Jon Moxley.
William Regal.
Blackpool Combat Club 👊
(via @AEWonTV)
https://t.co/XCfjcsbE6z
Even at 41 years of age, Bryan Danielson is still giving his best by delivering big-time matches, regardless of the opponent. As Double or Nothing takes place tomorrow, it will be interesting to see if his team can defeat Jericho's stable.