Bryan Danielson talks All In, Wheeler Yuta, books, more

[Chris]

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Thoughts on Swerve Strickland​

This Sunday, Danielson and Strickland will meet in a world title vs. career bout that has grown from a feud about gold and turned into a bitter rivalry.

Despite the harsh words being thrown around and the physical attacks, Danielson has a lot of respect for his opponent and complimented him on his reign as AEW champion.

"I think he's done an incredible job," he said. "Especially carrying himself like the world champion, which is a really hard thing to do. I think he's done a tremendous job of it.

"From a talent perspective, or as somebody who assesses skill level, the things that you need to be good at to be a good professional wrestler, he's excellent at all of them.

"From a character perspective, from a wrestling perspective, from an athletic perspective, from the ability to be a showman, he really nails it on all the levels. I think he's an incredible performer."

How He Feels Physically​

Over the last two decades, Danielson has dealt with his fair share of injuries. Indeed, he spent several years thinking he may never wrestle again before finally being cleared to compete.

He spoke candidly about his neck issues while making it clear he feels good.

"My neck is trashed," he said with a smile. "But other than that, I feel good. One of the things that I'm good at is experiencing pain and it not necessarily affecting me much. It doesn't really affect my mental space.

"The only thing that it does kind of affect is my parenting because our son is four and wild. He loves jumping on my back and jumping on my neck, and I'm like, 'Argh, stop!'" he joked.

"It affects my training and that sort of thing. But other than that, I feel good. The odds are, by the end of the year, I'm probably going to have to get neck surgery or whatever it is. But right now, it feels manageable. And when I get out and wrestle, I feel invincible. So that's not even a concern."

Wrestling with Parenthood​

The American Dragon is known around the world as one of the most skilled technicians to lace up a pair of boots, but to his kids, he's just Dad.

He and his wife, Brie Garcia (Brie Bella), have a daughter and a son. While parenthood didn't change his style in the ring, it helped him reassess his priorities.

"[Parenting] hasn't really changed the way I wrestle," he said. "If we hadn't had kids when my WWE contract was up, I probably still would have come to AEW, but one of the factors that played heavily on my mind was being able to spend more time with my family. And another factor was doing the style of wrestling that I really enjoy.

"One of the things that has been important for me, for my kids, especially now that they are a little bit older, especially my daughter, is to see that you can have a job that you really love. That is my desire for her and my son more than anything else.

"People ask me all the time 'Do you want your kids to be wrestlers?' and I say I don't care what they do. I just want them to love something the way I love wrestling.

"There are some moments when it feels hard, but the overall consensus in my mind is that this is a joyful experience and I look forward to going to work. I hate leaving my family, but I look forward to going to work. I think it's good for my kids to see that I have this job that pays the bills but is also something that I love, and you can have both."

What Will He Do If He Loses at All In?​

When many wrestlers retire, they find ways to remain in the business as trainers, promoters, coaches, managers, announcers and other roles outside the ring. While Danielson would love to continue in the business in some way, he also has a deep love for people and nature.

"One of the things that is very important to me is to participate in my community," he said. "A lot of times, when you look globally or nationally, you see problems and it's very hard to affect change. But within your community, you can do a lot.

"When we travel so much, I've been able to do some things here or there. One of the things I'm proudest of is I helped a creek restoration in Washington where, several years ago, there were no salmon coming back into that stream. And now there are.

"I went out there three or four times to help actually do the physical work and help fund some of it. Stuff like that is stuff I'm really interested in."

One goal is to do more charitable work, but the Aberdeen, Washington native also hopes to get more involved with his kids' activities.

"Also, my wife got to coach my son's tee-ball team last year," Danielson said. "She had to go and do something, and I got to step in and be a substitute coach for one tee-ball practice and a game. I had so much fun.

"So, participating in my kids' lives, participating in my community, being an active member and helping with things locally. Everywhere you look, there are always things that can be improved upon. I'm trying to participate in that where I can."

His AEW Tenure​

Reflecting on the different phases of his career, The American Dragon discussed how his early years were about learning and exploring the art of pro wrestling.

With some advice from William Regal to guide him, he continued to learn the entertainment side of the business in WWE. When he ended up in AEW, he felt like he was finally a complete package.

"My AEW run has really felt to me, from a creative aspect, is putting it all together," Danielson said. "It took me 20 years to put it all together: the entertainment, the wrestling and knowing who I am as a person and knowing who I am as a character.

"If you look at the matches, in my mind, I've had the best matches of my career in AEW. Whether they've been difference-makers or not, that's a different thing entirely, but from a creative aspect, these last three years have been some of the most fun of my career but also the wrestling matches I've enjoyed the most."

To hear Danielson talk about his early years in wrestling and his time in WWE, listen to his full answer in the video above.

Wheeler Yuta​

Danielson has helped many talents behind the scenes, but he also has an on-screen protégé as part of Blackpool Combat Club.

Along with Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli, and originally William Regal, he has helped Wheeler Yuta grow into a more well-rounded wrestler.

"Wheeler has so much upside," Danielson said. "He's an incredible human being and that's the part I really look at with people. If you were to look at me when I was 27, I had a lot of holes in my game."

The American Dragon also pointed out how different it was for him to enter the business before social media was as prevalent as it is today.

"It's hard to be a TV wrestler now in your 20s because everybody expects so much of you," he said. "And then you have social media to criticize anything that you do. If social media was around when I was 26 and they were able to see everything, every promo that I did, I might have to stick my head in the sand.

"I have a deep empathy for them being criticized so much at this stage. I think Wheeler, from an in-ring standpoint and from a promo standpoint, he's getting better all the time. He did a match with Rocky Romero on Rampage that was just fantastic. I just think he's doing a great job."

Book Review​

We usually end our AEW interviews with a movie review to give wrestlers a chance to talk about something besides work. Since Danielson rarely watches films, he opted to discuss some of the books he's been reading.

"I finished two books on Tuesday," he said. "There's this book that I just finished called First Principles and First Values that was really good, but it's not necessarily everybody's cup of tea.

"But if you're looking for a good fiction book, I just read Richard Powers' Bewilderment. He also wrote a book called The Overstory, and this book came out after that. It's about a father whose wife had passed away and it's just him and his son, and his son has some mental health issues.

"It's dealing with this grief of losing your wife and managing a son who is also grieving the loss of his mother and how you navigate some of that. It ended in a way that was really, really sad, but it also kind of sticks with you for a while. So, yeah, I highly recommend it."