Bryan Danielson Recalls How Winning the APW King of the Indies Tournament Changed His Career

– During a recent interview with Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW star Bryan Danielson discussed winning the APW King of the Indies tournament in 2001 and how that was a major moment in his career. It happened not long after he was released from a WWE developmental contract that year. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Bryan Danielson on Nick Bockwinkel telling the booker to put him over: “I wasn’t supposed to win that King of Indies tournament, and then Nick Bockwinkel, apparently, I wasn’t part of this conversation, told Roland Alexander, who was booking the tournament, ‘if you don’t put that guy over, you’re crazy,’ talking about me, which did change the trajectory of my career. I was supposed to lose to Donovan Morgan; I think in the semifinals, he put me and Low Ki in the finals, which was also the finals of the Super 8 Tournament, which was probably the biggest Independent tournament at the time. He had me win. What it really did for me, more than anything else, was it made me, to the Independent Wrestling Community, make me seem like a true main event guy. At the time, I was struggling a little bit.”

On being released from his WWE developmental deal in 2001: “I had gotten let go under a developmental deal for a little over a year with WWE; they let me go when they bought WCW. They had all these cruiserweights who had already been on TV. I was really struggling to find footing. I was getting a lot of bookings, but in the Vancouver area, a Canadian company called ECCW (Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling) was paying $70 Canadian, which was like $45 American. I was going to college, working two jobs. It was a real struggle. That changed my career around where, all of a sudden, I could get paid $100 a show, and people were bringing me out. Roland Alexander offered me a job as the head trainer at All Pro Wrestling at $350 a week, and I was like, ‘I’ll take it.’ It was a great chance. I didn’t feel qualified as a head trainer when I took it. I told Roland that, and he said, ‘you will have help,’ and we had this whole guidebook. I was trying to teach people to wrestle made me a better wrestler, as it does with many people in anything. You try to teach somebody something; you have to know it more deeply. That was a real turning point for my career, and it was also the inspiration from my understanding of Ring of Honor.”