9-time WWE champion reveals he deliberately tried to get himself fired: "I had been forced to retire"

A multi-time champion in WWE recently revealed that he deliberately tried to get fired from the company. He stated that he tried saying wild stuff during the company's programming to force WWE's hand. The star is none other than the American Dragon, Bryan Danielson.

Bryan made his debut in the Stamford-based promotion back in 2010. During his 11-year tenure with the company, he became a 5-time World Champion. He also held the tag team titles twice and won the United States and Intercontinental Championships once each.

In 2016, he was forced into an early retirement after having a history of concussions. While speaking on the Down Under the Ring podcast, Bryan revealed how he deliberately tried to get himself fired by saying wild things on Talking Smack.

“I was trying to get fired by saying dumb stuff on Talking Smack. It was a different situation because I had been forced to retire. I thought I could come back to wrestling, but for a long time they wouldn’t let me. So I figured, ‘Maybe if I do this, I’ll get fired.’” [H:T/Ringside News]

Despite all of this, Bryan Danielson returned to wrestling in 2018 and had a great run in WWE before joining AEW back in 2021.

WWE Analyst Dave Meltzer believes Bryan Danielson will return to wrestling again

Bryan Danielson entered retirement as a full-time competitor after losing his AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley at WrestleDream 2024. Since then, he hasn't wrestled a single televised match for the company.

However, Dave Meltzer recently said that he believes Bryan will definitely wrestle again. While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, he said:

"I think that he's very comfortable with the idea that he's not going to wrestle again in a major way. I mean I believe he will wrestle again at some point...he's openly talked about the idea of doing indie shows because he said he can fool around and have fun and do indie shows. He said the style of wrestling in AEW is such that he doesn't think that he could go out there and work at that level, and he doesn't want to be the guy who lives on his rep, and also physically, his neck's not in good shape. He didn't have the surgery," said Meltzer. [H/T WrestlingInc.]

It will be interesting to see if the former WWE Champion actually returns to wrestling again.