Bryan Danielson’s surprise appearance at AEW All In 2025 was one of the weekend’s biggest moments, but “The American Dragon” is making it clear that fans shouldn’t expect a full-time comeback.

After dropping the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley last fall and stepping away from active competition, Danielson spent much of the past year enjoying life outside the grind of professional wrestling. Still, he slowly dipped his toe back into the scene this spring with appearances for ACTION Wrestling and Ring of Honor, even sneaking in a quick dark match following Collision. That all set the stage for his shocking return at Wembley, where Danielson hit the ring in disguise to help “Hangman” Adam Page fend off the Death Riders and reclaim the AEW World Title.

Speaking on the Kairouz Brothers show, Danielson shared some behind-the-scenes details of that All In moment — including how his body reacted to the physicality and why he ended up wearing a Blue Panther mask.

“It felt good while I was doing it,” Danielson admitted. “And then the next day I didn’t feel so good. I was a bit sore… My doctor just shook his head and said, ‘Bryan, you’re an idiot.’”

Danielson explained that the mask was supposed to help him move through the crowd unnoticed, but it quickly became a comedy of errors.

“Originally, the Blue Panther mask was to get through the crowd without being spotted. But when I tried to hop the rail, I couldn’t get it off! So I had this hoodie, I got the hoodie off, but then I just had the Blue Panther mask on. And then, of course, I start ‘Yes-ing!’ right when I got in.”

What’s Next for Danielson?

Since All In, Danielson has taken on a bigger role with AEW — this time behind the desk. He officially joined the Dynamite commentary team last week, sparking questions about whether his in-ring days are truly behind him. While Danielson didn’t rule out wrestling again, he sounded unsure about whether he could meet the high bar set by today’s AEW roster.

“I don’t know how much you’ll see of me in the ring. Maybe some more commentary. I did Forbidden Door, and I’m backstage sometimes. From a wrestling perspective, it feels more fun to do an indie show in front of 200 people, because the expectations are lower. AEW is action-packed and hard-hitting, and I don’t feel confident I can perform at that level anymore.”

For now, fans will be hearing more of Danielson’s voice than seeing him throw knees in the ring. But if wrestling has taught us anything, it’s to never say never — especially when it comes to “The American Dragon.”

After 25 years, a forced retirement, and many matches some would consider the best to have ever happened, Bryan Danielson’s full-time wrestling career is over. The American Dragon lost the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley at WrestleDream on October 12, with many wondering what the future holds for him given the condition of his body. Dave Meltzer provided an update on what’s next for Danielson in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

According to Meltzer, Danielson is set to have an MRI scan in the near future to see what damage has been done to his neck. Danielson reportedly had an MRI scan earlier this year that showed significant damage to his neck, but not quite enough to rule him out of action completely, resulting in him being able to finish out his last full-time year. The results of the MRI scan will determine what Danielson does next, as the hope currently is that he will not need surgery, but if the damage has gotten a lot worse, he may need to go under the knife, which could put a potential in-ring return in jeopardy depending on how well the surgery, and his recovery goes.

If Danielson is able to avoid surgery, he will be able to undergo stem cell treatment therapy to heal up instead. WWE star Rey Mysterio has undergone multiple rounds of stem cell treatment to repair his knees and is still wrestling to this day, so if Danielson does end up going down that route, the hopes of an in-ring return will seem brighter. Danielson reportedly told people within AEW that he can’t see himself going back to WWE, with the idea being that he will pop up in AEW occasionally, but for right now, he is focused on getting healthy, and spending time with his family.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Bryan Danielson is in his final full-time year as a pro wrestler, closing the chapter on one of the most storied careers in history. With his run set to wind down, Danielson told “Casual Conversations” that he still has a few things to check off his bucket list, including an appearance at All In 2024 at Wembley Stadium. However, he confirmed that his current contract is due to expire before the London event in August. 

“The big one is Wembley. I want to make it to Wembley,” he said. “My contract actually expires before. But I want to make it to Wembley.” 

Danielson opined that Wembley differs from other iconic wrestling venues, such as Arena Mexico or the Tokyo Dome, in that it’s not one typically synonymous with the sport. He reasoned that it held a different energy to the others he has wrestled at, and given that he was unavailable for last year’s All In event, he wants to cross off that goal this year. Furthermore, he might stick around longer, as he feels that October’s WrestleDream event would be a great curtain call. 

“I’m not sure if I’ll make it. But one thing that’d be a nice way to close everything out for me is to do my last match as a full-time wrestler at WrestleDream at the Tacoma Dome. Because that’s the first wrestling show I ever saw [at the Tacoma Dome]. It was WWF and it was Ultimate Warrior versus Rick Rude.” 

Bryan Danielson joined AEW in 2021 months after departing WWE, signing a three-year deal with the promotion. He confirmed that this would be his final year of full-time competition ahead of the Continental Classic late last year. However, Danielson has not been seen on TV since losing to Will Ospreay at AEW Dynasty. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Last Wednesday on “AEW Dynamite,” Bryan Danielson sustained an injury, later announced by Tony Schiavone to be a broken orbital bone. The injury came during a tag match that included the “Dynamite” debut of Kazuchika Okada, with Danielson and partner Claudio Castagnoli eventually coming out on top. Today’s “Wrestling Observer Radio” features another update on Danielson’s condition, with Dave Meltzer reporting that the AEW star has undergone surgery for the fracture.

The company was reportedly hopeful that Danielson’s injury would not require surgery, but it turned out that the performer needed a procedure to heal properly. Meltzer pointed out the bad luck of Danielson’s AEW run thus far, with the 42-year-old suffering several unrelated injuries that have put him on the shelf for months at a time. The same can be said for Adam Cole, who debuted the same night as Danielson before being forced to spend much of 2022 away from the ring due to serious concussions. Cole is currently out of action again with an ankle injury.

Just last month, Danielson announced his intention to wrap up his full-time wrestling career within the next year. That makes the timing of his current injury all the worse, and it’s unclear if Danielson will look to extend that timeframe based on how long it takes for him to get back in the ring this time around.

Danielson was also injured wrestling against Okada back in June when the two faced off at the second annual AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Danielson fractured his forearm in that match, though he soldiered through the injury to win the bout.

UPDATE:

Bryan Danielson is currently out of action because of a broken orbital bone, but the injury did not happen as initially thought.

The original belief was that it occurred during the tag team match with Claudio Castagnoli against Orange Cassidy and Kazuchika Okada on last week’s Dynamite.

However, according to Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio, the injury actually occurred during a recent match when he collided heads with Andrade.

Believed to have occurred in a tag match with Claudio Castagnoli against Okada and Orange Cassidy on last Wednesday’s “AEW Dynamite,” Danielson may have actually wrestled in that bout already having suffered the new break. According to the latest “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Danielson’s injury occurred four days earlier on “AEW Collision” during his match with Andrade El Idolo. In the course of the match Andrade went for a back elbow. The two men’s heads accidentally collided, and Andrade hit Danielson in the eye.

Danielson was sporting a black eye following the match, but the severity of the injury was not clear to him or AEW at first — some thought it was initially nothing serious at all. But once things became more apparent, the call was made to do the angle seen on “Dynamite” where Danielson took both an Orange Punch from Cassidy and a Rainmaker from Okada, paving the way to write him off television for the time being.

It is still uncertain whether he will choose to undergo surgery to repair it.

Whether or not Danielson opts for surgery is up in the air right now. Both he and AEW are optimistic that it might not be necessary for recovery and that the broken orbital bone could heal naturally, reducing the time he’d need to be away from the ring.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

During this Saturday’s episode of “AEW Collision,” it was announced by Tony Schiavone that Bryan Danielson broke his orbital bone and is expected to be out for the remainder of the year. He will be undergoing surgery, too. The unfortunate injury happened during his tag team match against AEW TNT Champion Orange Cassidy and NJPW star Kazuchika Okada on the October 25 episode of “AEW Dynamite,” when he was hit with both an Orange Punch and Rainmaker.

Also, during “Collision,” Danielson’s Blackpool Combat Club stablemate Claudio Castagnoli called out Okada and Cassidy. He warned them that he will get his revenge for what they did to his partner — and he’ll be using their signature moves, the Orange Punch and Rainmaker, in the process. Later on the show, Castagnoli had a squash match with Tracy Williams, where he used the Rainmaker. Castagnoli is set to face Cassidy on the November 1 episode of “Dynamite.” Cassidy will be putting the AEW International Title on the line.

It was on the September 2 episode of “Collision,” when Danielson returned to AEW programming after fracturing his forearm during his match against Okada in June at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. The year before, at the 2022 Forbidden Door pay-per-view, Danielson had to miss it because of an undisclosed injury, and Castagnoli took his place in a match against NJPW star Zack Sabre Jr. Danielson and Sabre Jr., eventually got their one-on-one match earlier this month at AEW WrestleDream, in which Danielson got the win.

Source: Wrestling Inc.