Daniel Bryan was forced to retire from in-ring competition in 2016, though he'd later return in 2018 as an active Superstar. He's talked about what led to that in the past, but now he's part of the AEW roster as the American Dragon Bryan Danielson, the former WWE Champion has revealed the role his ex-employers played in making him step away from the ring.
Talking to wdel.com, Danielson elaborated on how WWE actually forced him to retire five years ago.
"I legitimately thought I was healthy and still think that I’m healthy," Danielson explained. "One of the reasons I was forced to retire was not because of the concussions, but because I lied about that. You have to understand, from WWE’s point of view, I had been wrestling for them for six years but then all of a sudden, they opened this Pandora’s box about ‘lying about his medical history and now we can’t trust him.’"
"A lot of that was building the trust back, but they were also legitimately looking after my health. I was going to see doctor after doctor and doing everything that I could to improve brain function to show, above and beyond, that my brain was healthy."
“It’s also my love of wrestling," Danielson continued. "It felt like I wasn’t really to be done yet, I still needed to come back. I also think there’s a lot left on concussion research to be done, and when you’re seeing the top doctors in the country and they’re all clearing you to do what you love to do, I think you should be able to do that."
It appears Danielson misleading WWE played the biggest role in why he was no longer allowed to wrestle, but that time he spent away from the ring may well have extended his career. He'll be in AEW for at least the next few years, of course, and gets to work a much lighter schedule than in WWE.
That should also help ensure the American Dragon and former Leader of the Yes Movement is here to stay, though who knows what will happen when his current contract reaches its conclusion.