AEW superstar Bryan Danielson recently spoke with WDEL in Delaware about a number of different topics, including whether it is more fun to be a face or a heel, and whether his training routine changed when jumping ship from WWE. Highlights are below.
Says it’s always fun to play the heel:
“I do like being booed, I think it’s a lot of fun. But both are good, as long as you’re getting a strong reaction either way, both are good. I think it’s always more fun to be the villain.”
Wanting to get back into the ring after he retired:
“I legitimately thought I was healthy, and still think that I’m healthy. One of the reasons I was forced to retiree 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. 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. 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.”
Whether his training changed coming into AEW:
“My training never really changes, other than changes to make sure your body doesn’t adapt to a single thing. I didn’t do anything special. I’ve never had an issue getting tired in matches. I also live at high altitude (Lake Tahoe, NV), so it makes breathing easier at low altitude, it’s almost like a breeze. I’m also very, very active. Today I’ve already done a 90 minute workout with weights, I’ll likely do some Ju-Jitsu, and then some kickboxing. I do this several times a week. Doing all of those things keep you in good condition naturally. If you have to worry about your conditioning, you already have one worry before you go out there, and I want to have as few worries as possible.”
Talks about his goals in AEW:
“One of the things about how AEW presents wrestling is it is a very sporting concept. The records and rankings are important. Kenny Omega doesn’t want to give me a rematch, so I’ll earn a rematch. I’m trying to build up and go through as many people as possible. AEW has a lot of great, great wrestlers that I want to get in the ring with, but I’m not getting into the ring to have a great wrestling match, I want to kick their heads in, and eventually get a shot at Kenny Omega, but this time for the AEW Championship.”