Wrestling veteran defends Bryan Danielson's U-turn on retirement (Exclusive)

Former AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson has had his fair share of injury issues in his career. The 44-year-old suffered a near-career-ending neck injury during his time in WWE and was forced to announce his in-ring retirement in 2016. However, he managed to return to the squared circle in 2018 before suffering another potentially career-ending injury during a match against Will Ospreay at AEW Dynasty 2024.

Bryan Danielson announced his retirement as a full-time performer after losing the AEW World Title to Jon Moxley at WrestleDream last October. However, The American Dragon recently made his return to the ring after an episode of Collision went off the air last month, defeating Max Caster in eight seconds.

Meanwhile, wrestling veteran Bill Apter has come out in support of Bryan's decision. While speaking on The Wrestling Time Machine on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, Apter said that Bryan Danielson never truly went away from AEW, and even when he was not wrestling, he was helping others out backstage. He even claimed that the 44-year-old has been testing out his return to the squared circle with other wrestlers.

"Well, he's been out, but he's been backstage. He's been mentoring people. He's been teaching the right things to do. He's excellent backstage. And, you know, all these issues that he's had with his health, with his neck especially, he would not consider even coming back in any way, shape, or form unless the doctors told him that he would be cleared, number one. And number two, that he's been testing it out the past few months, you know, in a small gym or in a workout room with other wrestlers,'' Apter said. [From 0:55 onwards]

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Bryan Danielson made his return to the promotion after last month's AEW Grand Slam Mexico went off the air. He came out to surprise fans at Arena Mexico and even got a bit physical following Blue Panther vs. Lee Moriarty, performing The Busaiku Knee on Shane Taylor and saving Panther from a post-match attack.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Yash Mittal