Bryan Danielson On The Physical Demands Of Wrestling: I’m ‘Making Sure My Body Is In A Healthy Position To Recover’
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
If “No Balls Kenny” won’t give him a rematch, Bryan Danielson wants to go out and earn one.
Bryan Danielson recently spoke with WDEL and talked about his AEW in-ring debut, a highly-praised 30-minute match against Kenny Omega last month. Danielson and Omega went to a draw at AEW’s “Grand Slam” event and the storyline now sees the champion ducking another match, but the “American Dragon” says he’s just going to earn it.
“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,” Danielson explained. “I want to kick their heads in, and eventually get a shot at Kenny Omega, but this time for the AEW Championship.”
Bryan Danielson also spoke about his health, which was scrutinized for a large part of his WWE career and even now. Danielson was cleared for action in March 2018, but questions about his long-term well-being still persist, especially as he looks to wrestle longer matches than he might be used to in WWE. To that effect, Danielson said he’s doing everything he can to stay healthy and so far, he’s feeling pretty good.
“I think your body adapts to so many things. We were actually just talking about this in the locker room, someone said every fall hurts now. I was like, really? I think it really depends on the crowd. When you wrestle in front of a rabid crowd, nothing hurts. I do extensive warm-ups before I go out, and then every night when I get back to my hotel room after a show I’m foam-rolling, I’m stretching, and making sure my body is in a healthy position to recover. I think for me, one of the hardest things is being on long plane trips,” he noted.
“When you get to be 40, and you just wrestled a 30-minute match with Kenny Omega, no matter how much stretching you did, the next day if you’re on a 6-hour plane trip, you’re going to hobble getting off the plane. Realistically, I hadn’t wrestled in 5 months, I wrestled Kenny Omega for 30 minutes, and did a 6-hour plane trip the next day, and I felt pretty good,” he stated. “There are a lot of physical demands, but if you keep up with your body, and maintain your body, it’s manageable.”
Bryan Danielson picked up a singles victory over Nick Jackson on AEW Rampage two weeks ago, and lost his third match in AEW. The Elite’s Adam Cole, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson defeated Danielson, Christian Cage & The Jurassic Express’s Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus in the opening match of AEW Dynamite in Philadelphia on Wednesday. His next match in AEW will be a singles match against Bobby Fish on October 16; check out the updated match card at this link.