Top AEW star almost left WWE following career altering conversation with The Young Bucks and RAW Superstar
A major AEW star revealed that he almost left WWE after talking to The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes about a possible move to Ring of Honor (ROH).
Bryan Danielson had a concussion which led to his first retirement on February 8, 2016 and immediately served as SmackDown General Manager from 2016 to 2018. On March 20, 2018, he was officially cleared by neurologists and concussion experts to return as an active competitor.
To start his post-retirement run, Danielson turned heel to become the "new Daniel Bryan" and won the WWE Championship against AJ Styles. He then dropped it to Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania 35 in 2019.
After a couple of feuds and a Universal Championship loss to Roman Reigns, he left the sports entertainment giant in May 2021.
However, in an interview with Inside The Ropes, Danielson disclosed that when his World Wrestling Entertainment contract expired in 2018. He strongly considered going back to ROH after his discussions with Rhodes, Matt and Nick Jackson.
"It was really interesting. My contract with WWE was up in 2018 and I was considering going to Ring of Honor and I was talking to The Young Bucks and I was talking to Cody [Rhodes] just to kind of see — all their contracts were up with Ring of Honor and I was like, ‘What are you guys gonna do?’" Danielson recalled. [H/T POSTWrestling]
AJ Styles NEXT-LEVEL SPIKES Bryan Danielson - ROH (01.28.2006) https://t.co/XwlMGUyRWs
The American Dragon added that his lawyer even advised him not to go to the promotion due to The Young Bucks focusing on Being the Elite and their uncertainties of their status.
Before gaining legendary status in World Wrestling Entertainment, Danielson first became notorious on ROH from 2002 to 2009, where he was a former World and Pure Champion.
Former WWE Champion Bryan Danielson once challenged for the ROH World Title on AEW
Since AEW President Tony Khan bought the Ring of Honor back in May, a couple of former WWE superstars have held the latter's world title. These include Claudio Castagnoli and current champion Chris Jericho.
Jericho, who is determined to disgrace the "honor" of the ROH World Title, has faced some of its former champions and one of them is Bryan Danielson.
The @ringofhonor World Championship stays with @IamJericho, and #ROH Pure Champion @GarciaWrestling's loyalty is cemented with the #JerichoAppreciationSociety! #AEWDynamite is LIVE on @TBSNetwork! https://t.co/t8JprPpLij
After a hard-fought war on the October 12th episode of Dynamite, the end didn't go in Danielson's favor after getting smacked with the world title belt by ROH Pure Champion Daniel Garcia.
Jericho took advantage of this by slowly crawling for a pinfall to successfully retain his championship.
Do you think AEW star Bryan Danielson would have fit into ROH in 2018 should he leave WWE? Sound off in the comment section.