Doing media ahead of his AEW All In main event against Swerve Strickland at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, Bryan Danielson was asked which song he’d like to have played at his funeral.
Symbolic of sorts, the same song he’d named – Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” – was coincidentally chosen by AEW CEO Tony Khan as the song featured over a montage for Danielson ahead of what may be the final match of his professional wrestling career.
“I did the interview with Kerrang! magazine like a week before. And then it took, I don’t know, five or six days or whatever it is for the thing to come out. But I think it came out right around the same time that Tony announced he was going to play it with the Green Day song,” Danielson tells Uproxx Sports.
“So I think people thought they were connected, but Tony got the rights to the song before he even knew that I did that interview. So the timing of it, when he told me, I thought, ‘Oh, did he do that because he read the interview that I did last week?’ But I didn’t realize at that point that it hadn’t even come out. It was just this weird coincidence.”
If Danielson loses on Sunday, a funeral it would be for the career of quite possibly the greatest professional wrestler to ever grace the ring. But Danielson has been here before, and he’s ready for what happens next.
“It’s a night and day difference in the sense of being able to choose your retirement versus it being forced upon you,” Danielson continues.
In 2016, concussions required him to step away from the ring despite his body feeling, generally, pretty good. The opposite is true this time around.
“Now, the rest of my body doesn’t feel so good,” Danielson says. “As you get older, it becomes a little bit more difficult and especially with the style of wrestling that I like to do. I like to go in there and I like to get physical. If this is going to be the end, I’m really happy that I spent the last three years in AEW because it’s really allowed me to go out there and, on the tail end of my career, do the style of wrestling that I love most.”
His decision to possibly walk away isn’t about the potential inability to wrestle his style, or out of fear that he’ll become a shell of himself in the ring. Danielson says when you put limits on yourself he believes it actually enhances creativity, at the same time, keeping issues like concussions and his neck top of mind.
“One of my favorite matches I’ve had in a AEW was last year at All Out. I had broken my arm and wasn’t supposed to come back for three months, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I came back in two months. I wasn’t really able to use my right arm very much at all and had a strap match with Ricky Starks. And that’s actually one of my favorite matches that I’ve had in AEW,” Danielson continues. “You can never foresee a concussion, right? My history of concussions and then neck stuff. Just simple falls on your back, things that you wouldn’t think of as a dangerous thing. When you have a bad neck, all those things bother it, but that’s not the main reason I’m (considering retirement).”
He wants it to be crystal clear that his decision to put his career on the line right now is not about what he may or may not be able to do in the ring, rather an intentional decision to focus on family.
“I’m ready to step away from wrestling now because I want to be there for my family,” Danielson says. “I think that it’s been really important for me that my daughter understands that — my son, he’s only four, so he doesn’t understand these concepts — but the idea that I’m not stepping away because I can’t do it anymore. I’m going to be stepping away because I want to spend time with you. And I think that’s an important distinction for your kids. So I’ve really tried to make that a priority when I talked to her about it to the point where my daughter is hoping I lose next Sunday because that means for sure daddy’s coming home.”
Regardless of the result, the chance to wrestle at Wembley Stadium and become part of wrestling history isn’t lost on Danielson. Sitting at home last year while AEW broke the all-time attendance record at All In, he simultaneously felt like he was missing out, but at the same time says he was really excited for his friends to make their mark.
From a history perspective, wrestling at the iconic venue that played host to Davey Boy Smith’s SummerSlam 1992 classic against Bret Hart is a moment Danielson strived for. As he sat at home, he remembers thinking he’s got to be ready for next year.
In less than a week, he’ll walk the entrance ramp to the ring with his career on the line and a chance to claim the AEW World Championship against Strickland.
“For me, this is just an incredible dream that’s about to be fulfilled,” Danielson says.
Danielson’s opponent, Strickland, is essentially at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of carving his own path. A veteran in his own right, Strickland has spent the last two years skyrocketing to the top of the wrestling world.
“As a human being, he’s just remarkable. He’s an incredible wrestler who really understands what fans want from a wrestling match. He’s just such an incredible athlete and has an incredible mind. But what really sets Swerve apart is his ability to define his own character and come across as different,” Danielson says. “As soon as he walks to the ring, you feel like he’s special because he is. He’s an incredibly intelligent guy. He’s an incredibly athletic guy. He has a great mind for wrestling. He has a great mind for entertainment. He has a great mind for music. And so I think that the character that he’s able to present on TV has really been remarkable.”
A match of this magnitude deserves the proper stage, and Khan is known to pull out all the stops to give these moments everything he can. But Danielson wants fans to temper expectations when it comes to hearing the memorable “The Final Countdown” song blaring over the speakers when he makes his way to the ring at Wembley.
“I have no idea,” Danielson says when asked if fans should expect to hear an iteration of his entrance music. “All I know is that’s a very expensive song to get. So please, please everybody do not be disappointed. (Khan) hasn’t told me anything about it. I’m just kind of anticipating I’ll come out to my normal song, which I also really like.”
The way this story has been built, it seems like a foregone conclusion that Sunday will be his last match. But what happens if The American Dragon avoids retirement and puts an early end to Strickland’s incredibly successful title run?
“I haven’t really thought that far ahead. I’m not under contract. If I do win, we’d have to get my neck checked and see what the next step is,” Danielson says.
While he’s participated in the creative process alongside Khan, Danielson was non-committal when it comes to his future in creative.
“The big thing for me is not having to travel very much because I don’t want to be away from my family. Traveling sometimes feels like it’s just as hard on my body as the wrestling,” Danielson says. “I really enjoy that part of wrestling as the creative outlet for my entire adult life. Anytime Tony wants to run ideas by me or get my input in the creative process, I’ll be more than willing to help out because that’s one of the things that I really love.”
If this really is it for his pro wrestling career, Danielson is going out not thinking about defining moments or matches, but rather his body of work over the last three years.
“When I think of this time, this has been the most fun I’ve ever had in my career. For the first time in my life and in my wrestling career, it didn’t feel like I was sacrificing family to do this thing that I loved,” Danielson says.
“I love wrestling and I loved being in WWE. I make no bones about that. I loved being in WWE, but it wasn’t my favorite style of wrestling. In AEW, I’m able to wrestle the style that I want to wrestle. And then on top of that, you have a lot of creative freedom there. And I also get to come home and spend a lot of time with my family. It’s really what I think of these last three years. I think of them as just this huge, huge blessing as far as this cherry on top of of a career that I’m not quite sure I deserved anyways.”
