Bryan Danielson, better known as Daniel Bryan in WWE, left that company in 2021 and signed with AEW four months later. Since joining the promotion, the American Dragon has taken on a significant role backstage and recently got his hands on the AEW World Championship.
On Wednesday night, AEW celebrated Dynamite's 5th anniversary and the fact that AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery have reached a deal to keep the company on television for the foreseeable future (you can read more about that here).
Cutting a promo for fans in attendance yesterday evening, Danielson explained why he's part of AEW and his decision to give up a "lifetime job" in WWE.
"First of all, I’d like to thank Tony Khan. Without whom, AEW wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t have an alternative. It is better that AEW exists for the wrestlers, for the production people, and for professional wrestling fans. I first wrestled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 23 years ago, and I don’t know if you guys remember, but you were the crowd that made me into a WrestleMania main eventer."
"So I just wanted to say thank you Pittsburgh. And last but certainly not least, I wanna thank all the men and women in the back because they’re the ones who made this place so great that I had a lifetime job at WWE, and I chose to come here because there were the best wrestlers in the world. The best fans in the world. And this is the best wrestling company in the world."
"Now, next week, check out WrestleDream because at WrestleDream in Tacoma, Washington, I am gonna kick Jon Moxley’s f*cking head in."
Danielson will defend the AEW World Championship against Moxley later this month at WrestleDream and, while he's strongly hinted that he'll retire soon, it looks like the former WWE Superstar intends to stick around in AEW for the long haul.
We'd imagine Danielson will eventually find his way back to WWE for a Hall of Fame induction at the very least. However, if he plans to continue working backstage in AEW, that may be a decade or more away.
You can watch the full promo in the player below.