Bryan Danielson recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated for an interview promoting this week's AEW programming from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York.
During the discussion, "The American Dragon" and Blackpool Combat Club member spoke about his recent interactions with Daniel Garcia on AEW television, the ongoing Tournament of Champions, as well as the backstage brawl that took place after CM Punk's rants during the AEW ALL OUT post-show media scrum in Chicago, Illinois and the subsequent suspensions handed down to multiple top AEW stars.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he shares his take on these topics.
On his thoughts on the backstage brawl that took place after the AEW ALL OUT post-show media scrum in Chicago, Illinois that led to the suspensions of multiple top AEW stars: “Tony made a statement last week on Dynamite,” said Danielson. “I hate to say, ‘Oh, this is what happened,’ when I wasn’t in the room. I tend to focus on what I can control and focus on the opportunities that present themselves whenever there is any type of disruption—whether it is something like this or even something, for example, like the pandemic. Wrestling in front of nobody was a real opportunity to hone my craft. It became what William Regal likes to call ‘close-up magic.’ We didn’t have the crowd or anything like that, and I learned so much about myself and what worked from a wrestling standpoint. It was no longer theater. It became cinema. There were things you could do there that you couldn’t do in front of a live crowd. It was a lot of fun mentally to try to figure that out.”
On being excited about the ongoing Tournament of Champions: “This is an opportunity to create more excitement,. I’m pretty pumped about the title tournament. It just lends gravity to all these matches. I’m really excited.”
On enjoying building up younger talents that deserve it, such as Daniel Garcia: “We’re vying for the soul of Daniel Garcia, so we were each wrestling to impress him. Isn’t that cool? It’s not just about us. One of the things I really enjoy about AEW is building up younger talent, and Garcia is a huge part of the story.”\
Check out the complete Bryan Danielson interview with Sports Illustrated by visiting SI.com.
