Bryan Danielson is one of the greatest professional wrestlers to have ever stepped foot on this planet. He is also one of the more “injury-prone” too, suffering a wide range of ailments across his time in the business, so much so that he even had to retire once.
RELATED: How CM Punk & Bryan Danielson's Careers Will Always Be Linked Together
Whether it be in ROH, WWE, or AEW, Danielson has been riddled with injuries among his various successes and world championship wins, which has sometimes halted his red-hot momentum. There are many things that fans should know about Danielson’s injuries, from details about them to how they affected his career in the business.
11 Wrestled A Match With A Separated Shoulder
Bryan Danielson has struggled much of his career with injuries, and this started all the way back when he was wrestling in Ring of Honor in the mid 2000s. He was a great ROH Champion, proving his toughness on many occasions both inside and outside of kayfabe, and one of those instances came when he faced Colt Cabana in a 60 minute Iron Man match at ROH Gut Check.
Danielson issued an assault on Cabana, but his eagerness in this flurry led to him separating his shoulder. He would tear three tendons, but wrestled the entire rest of this match with one arm, not letting this injury stop the match.
10 Nearly Went Blind
Danielson has had some unconventional injuries throughout his career, and one of the craziest occurred in Ring of Honor when he really went blind.
Competing in a match against sworn rival Takeshita Morishima at ROH Manhattan Mayhem 2, Danielson suffered a detached retina following some stiff strikes from his opponent. This led to an ugly mess in which Danielson needed surgery. He was lucky though, as this injury could have well caused long-term damage and blindness if it was any worse.
9 WWE Stopped A Match
WWE takes several steps to protect their own wrestlers in a sport which can be incredibly dangerous, and whilst they sometimes don’t do a perfect job, they stopped a match Danielson was wrestling in due to an injury.
During a match against Randy Orton in 2013, Bryan suffered a “stinger” in which he couldn’t feel his own limbs. This led to the referee bringing the match to a halt despite Bryan’s protests and clear annoyance at the fact that he wasn’t allowed to continue fighting.
8 Stripped Of WWE World Heavyweight Championship
One of the most incredible moments in WWE history came at WrestleMania 30 when the then Daniel Bryan defeated Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista in one night to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion in an iconic WrestleMania moment.
RELATED: Bryan Danielson's Forgotten Early WWE Career, Explained
However, it wasn’t all a fairytale for Danielson as his reign was cut short before it even began due to his neck injuries. He was stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after just one PPV defense against Kane.
7 Had To Vacate Intercontinental Championship
It wasn’t just the WWE World Heavyweight Championship which was taken away from Danielson, but pretty much the same thing would happen again with the Intercontinental Championship.
After winning the belt at WrestleMania 31, Danielson would only have a short reign before ruled out with an injury once again, and this led to him vacating the gold and putting it up for grabs in the Elimination Chamber match for a new champion to be decided.
6 Was Forced Into An Early Retirement
Danielson had suffered one too many injuries during his career, and WWE would no longer clear him to compete, which led to him announcing his early retirement from the ring in 2016 in an emotional speech.
Danielson had to walk away from the ring for two whole years, becoming an on-screen authority figure in his time away alongside Shane McMahon on SmackDown.
5 Concealed His Concussion History
Danielson has suffered from many concussions over the course of his professional wrestling career. His history of concussions is murky though, as he concealed this to WWE when he signed, hiding that he was prone to suffering them.
This is one of the factors that likely led to WWE deciding that they could no longer clear him. He has even gotten concussions since his return to the ring, picking up one in his new home of AEW during the Anarchy in the Arena match back in 2022.
4 Wanted To Leave WWE
When he was forced into retirement, Danielson tried his utmost to get cleared for a return, but WWE’s doctors would simply not allow it. Danielson wanted out of his WWE contract to go and work elsewhere as he was cleared by many non-WWE doctors, but WWE didn’t let him leave.
He would be honest about this during a Talking Smack segment with The Miz which has become infamous. He was accused of being a coward but said he would wrestle if “they let me”. Danielson has since revealed that he tried to get fired from WWE with many of the things he said on Talking Smack when speaking to Renee Paquette on The Sessions.
3 Fought Through A Broken Arm To Return To AEW Sooner
Bryan Danielson’s most recent injury came in the form of a fractured arm that he suffered after a top rope splash in a match against Kazuchika Okada at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023.
This kept him out of the ring, but not for too long. Danielson was brought back early due to the firing of CM Punk, and he would even wrestle with his arm in a cast in a match against Ricky Starks, working around it.
2 Found “Satisfaction” In Fractured Arm
Bryan Danielson has always been a little bit eccentric in the way he views the world in a way which can only be seen as both endearing, worrying, and absolutely wonderful. He would even find the positives in his recent fractured arm, claiming to have found “satisfaction” in wrestling around his injury.
RELATED: 10 Things Bryan Danielson Never Accomplished In Wrestling
Danielson was one of the few who loved wrestling during the pandemic with zero fans, and with him always up for a challenge, he loved working around wrestling with just one arm. He revealed to Sports Illustrated, “Hindsight? I think I had more fun because of it.”
1 Injuries Have Made Him Consider His Future
As time has gone on, Danielson has made some realizations when it comes to his career, and it has led to him reevaluating what is important. With several concussions and even with his arm fracture, he has realized that being at home with his family is important in later life.
This has led to the announcement that Danielson will soon be stepping away from full-time competition. Whilst he may not be closing the door on wrestling altogether, injuries have encouraged him to think more about the future.
