Bryan Danielson Claims His Neck Is ‘Trashed’ Before AEW All In: London

– During a recent interview with Bleacher Report’s Chris Mueller, AEW star Bryan Danielson addressed his neck issues heading into AEW All In: London 2024 and more. Below are some highlights:

Bryan Danielson on how his neck is feeling: “My neck is trashed. But other than that, I feel good. One of the things that I’m good at is experiencing pain and it not necessarily affecting me much. It doesn’t really affect my mental space The only thing that it does kind of affect is my parenting because our son is four and wild. He loves jumping on my back and jumping on my neck, and I’m like, ‘Argh, stop!'”

On how his neck issues affect his training: “It affects my training and that sort of thing. But other than that, I feel good. The odds are, by the end of the year, I’m probably going to have to get neck surgery or whatever it is. But right now, it feels manageable. And when I get out and wrestle, I feel invincible. So that’s not even a concern.”

Danielson on parenting: “[Parenting] hasn’t really changed the way I wrestle. If we hadn’t had kids when my WWE contract was up, I probably still would have come to AEW, but one of the factors that played heavily on my mind was being able to spend more time with my family. And another factor was doing the style of wrestling that I really enjoy. One of the things that has been important for me, for my kids, especially now that they are a little bit older, especially my daughter, is to see that you can have a job that you really love. That is my desire for her and my son more than anything else.”

His view on if he would want his kids to become wrestlers: “People ask me all the time ‘Do you want your kids to be wrestlers?’ and I say I don’t care what they do. I just want them to love something the way I love wrestling. There are some moments when it feels hard, but the overall consensus in my mind is that this is a joyful experience and I look forward to going to work. I hate leaving my family, but I look forward to going to work. I think it’s good for my kids to see that I have this job that pays the bills but is also something that I love, and you can have both.”

On what he will do if he loses this weekend: “Also, my wife got to coach my son’s tee-ball team last year. She had to go and do something, and I got to step in and be a substitute coach for one tee-ball practice and a game. I had so much fun. So, participating in my kids’ lives, participating in my community, being an active member and helping with things locally. Everywhere you look, there are always things that can be improved upon. I’m trying to participate in that where I can.”

Bryan Danielson on his AEW run: “My AEW run has really felt to me, from a creative aspect, is putting it all together,” Danielson said. “It took me 20 years to put it all together: the entertainment, the wrestling and knowing who I am as a person and knowing who I am as a character. If you look at the matches, in my mind, I’ve had the best matches of my career in AEW. Whether they’ve been difference-makers or not, that’s a different thing entirely, but from a creative aspect, these last three years have been some of the most fun of my career but also the wrestling matches I’ve enjoyed the most.”

Bryan Danielson challenges Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship later this weekend at AEW All In: London. Danielson has put his career on the line, so if he loses, he will retire from active competition. The event is scheduled for Sunday, August 25 at London’s Wembley Stadium. It will be broadcast live on pay-per-view.