Bryan Danielson Comments On Working on AEW Creative, Teases Match With Nigel McGuinness

During a post-show media scrum for AEW Double or Nothing, Bryan Danielson commented on recent reports that he will be involved with AEW creative, particularly for Collision. Here are highlights:

On the passing of UK promoter Brian Dixon: “I just heard that, I don’t know, midday. Makes me really sad. For those of you who don’t know who Brian Dixon is, he’s a promoter in the UK. So I’d gotten let go from the WWF in 2001, looking for places to work around the world, trying to make a full-time living wrestling, and it’s really hard. Dixon gave me that opportunity. It was only 50 pounds a show but we would wrestle six or seven nights a week. I went there in 2003 for six months – he paid me 50 pounds a show and if he would have given me a little more money I would have never left. I ended up going back again in 2005, 2008, and I can’t thank that man enough. I’m very grateful for him and I’m said to hear he passed away.”

On helping with AEW creative: “I love working with Tony and I love working in AEW. It’s a lot of fun because, sometimes, before I even like, got here, Tony and I would talk on the phone sometimes for an hour and a half to two hours and we’d just be talking about things and wrestling and that sort of thing. I think we have similar ideas on wrestling, and sometimes he says things to me and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a great idea,’ and we riff off each other really well. When we do it, it doesn’t really feel like work. When you love wrestling, stuff like that is fun.”

On Wheeler Yuta: “Wheeler’s been doing a great job, I just want to say that. I’m very thankful for AEW – the willingness to put people like Wheeler Yuta in this position. So if you think of where Wheeler Yuta was a little over a year ago and now he just beat Kenny Omega in the main event of a PPV…I’m really proud of him for that. I’m proud of his company for that. You won’t see that anywhere else.”

On the growth of AEW: “I’m really proud of the work that we’re doing here and proud of the work we’ve been able to do. I never thought I’d do another hour-long match again in my life and I’ve done two of them. And I’m very proud of both of them. I’m proud of the work that we do here. I’m proud of the wrestling that we do here. I’m proud of a lot of the talent…especially the younger talent. When you feel like you start getting old, you see these people who come up to you and say, ‘I watched you when I was a kid!’ It’s like, ‘oh no…’ But then, to see them grow, in just a little over the year and a half I’ve been here, it’s so rewarding. I’ve loved the experience. Also, I’ve never been at a place where the company has so much heart for the wrestlers — and that is so meaningful and makes me feel so grateful for this place. It’s great to have a second option, a competitor, to the company that kind of had a monopoly on TV wrestling for the last however long…but to do it with such grace, to be so successful so quick…how many tickets have we sold at Wembley at this point? It’s unbelievable. It makes me feel proud just to even be here.”

On a potential match with Nigel McGuinness at All In: “I think Nigel McGuinness probably needs to shut his mouth a little bit. I don’t think at this point in his life he can handle the same intensity that he could in 2006. When you watch him on commentary…I think the world of him as a wrestler, and I think the world of him as a commentator, but he no longer has the physical ability to match up with me. He did at one point. But here I am, I’m 42 years old and it doesn’t matter. I train so hard to stay like this, he stopped training. Do you think you can catch back up in three months? No, you can’t. I look at his neck, and I think that I’d break it. And I’m only 185 pounds.”

If you use quotes from this article, please credit AEW with an h/t to 411mania.