Pro wrestling matches can take a lot out of the participants even when they’re only a few minutes long. After more than an hour, it’s almost guaranteed that wrestlers are going to be beaten up, even if they’re among the best in the world like Bryan Danielson.
The American Dragon had to work overtime against AEW World Champion MJF at AEW Revolution when their Iron Man match was tied at the end of its scheduled 60 minutes. That was great for fans, but not as much for Danielson’s body.
On top of that, the suffering didn’t even come in a winning effort, as Danielson eventually tapped out to MJF for the final fall. After cutting a promo that aired on Dynamite about how he needed to “go home” following his defeat, Danielson appeared on the Unconsciously Coupled podcast (h/t Fightful) and ran down a list of all his ailments after Revolution.
Legitimately, I’m in a ton of pain. I just wrestled for over 65 minutes. I’ve got a black eye. I can’t lift my left arm past here [partially raises arm]. I have shooting pain going down my leg. There’s this big gaping wound on my stomach.
Those are all things that Danielson has undoubtedly experienced before, probably numerous times over the course of his 20-plus-year career. But given his injury history, they’re not pleasant for his fans to hear about, nor his family — Danielson discussed how his young children already understand when their dad is in physical pain from his matches.
The question now is when Danielson might return to the ring. The aforementioned “go home” promo certainly buys AEW time to allow him to heal up, and MJF will almost certainly move on to other challengers. Danielson remains one of AEW’s biggest and most popular stars, however, so from a business perspective, it won’t want him to stay away too long.