Ever since Bryan Danielson made his proclamation that 2024 would be his final year as a full-time professional wrestler, it got fans and performers alike in their feelings.
Sure, Danielson has been through a lot in his career, from being forced to medically retire during his time in WWE to a series of smaller injuries that have hampered his AEW career, but even at 43, the “American Dragon” remains one of the best technical wrestlers in the world today and can still put on matches that are among the best you will ever see regardless of the promotion, country, or era.
Discussing his excitement to see Wheeler Yuta return for a match with the Blackpool Combat Club against Team CMLL on Dynamite, a match the BCC won via a Seatbelt finish from the ROH Pure Champion, Danielson celebrated his young friend before delving into the struggles of his final year as a full-timer, noting that while he's blown many chances along the way, he has one more opportunity to make that all right at the biggest show of the year: All In.
“What a, what a blessing this is. To see someone like Wheeler Yuta return after being injured for four months, to go out there and fight like h*ll against the CMLL guys and he came out on top; he's the one who gets the win. I couldn't be prouder,” Bryan Danielson told the fans on AEW Dynamite.
“But as for myself, it was about eight months ago that I told everybody that this was going to be my last year as a full-time professional wrestler, and I said it was going to be the most epic year of my career, but the truth is, it hasn't been what I wanted. You know, I fought for the TNT Championship against Christian Cage, and I lost. But okay, I've got another chance; I got the Continental Classic; surely I'll win the Continental Classic, and I made it to the semi-finals, and I lost. But I got a singles match against Okada at the Tokyo Dome, that will be my vindication, and then I lost. In every big match, I lose, and I lose, and I lose.
“And then the straw that really broke the camel's back was losing at Anarchy in the Arena, and I was pretty down about it; I was talking to Wheeler, I saw how fired up he was to be back, and I realized that my last year as a pro wrestler, it ain't over yet. And when Tony Khan announced that the winner of the Owen Hart Tournament is going to get a championship match for the AEW World Championship at All In at Wembley Stadium, I got fired up one more time. This could be my last shot, but it's going to be the best shot that I've had in my entire career, and I'm going out on top.”
Welp, there you go, folks, this is the path AEW is looking to take; Bryan Danielson is going to win the Owen Hart Cup, and at All In, he'll either secure the AEW Championship only to lose it a few months later at WrestleDream in Washington, or lose the main event with the ultimate big match Shawn Michaels-style sell job, securing his big happy ending a few months later in his hometown arena. Which option makes the most sense? Well, that depends on how you feel about Swerve Strickland versus Will Ospreay, but either way, if the “American Dragon” wrestles his final full-time match opposite the “Billy Goat” at the Tacoma Dome, fans will go home happy, as they will be guaranteed a light's out, A+ effort from two of the very best to ever do it.
Wheeler Yuta is happy to be back with Bryan Danielson and the BCC.
After securing his first victory in AEW since January alongside Bryan Danielson and the rest of Blackpool Combat Club, Wheeler Yuta opened up about the long road to return to full strength he's been walking down over the last five months, noting that missing out on so many interesting opportunities has been just as bad as the rehab process. Still, after getting cleared, he's excited to be back in AEW and Ring of Honor, as he's given his entire life to wrestling and doesn't want that to be taken away from him.
“It's been a long five months, it's been a really long five months. I'm happy that I could get out there and help the team, and we could come out on top against some really good competitors from CMLL. Obviously, they went down to Arena Mexico, they had that match, and they've been fighting here for months and months. It's been really hard to watch all that from my couch. It's been really hard to have this championship on a shelf under my TV stand, under my TV on my TV stand for five months, just looking at it, not knowing if or when I would get to defend it again. I think when I started wrestling, I kind of came to terms with, I was probably gonna leave it physically much worse than when I entered, but when it's your head, when it's your brain, it's pretty scary,” Wheeler Yuta told AEW fans in a Digital Exclusive via Fightful.
“I don't want to wake up every day with a headache, and I don't want to get dizzy every time I go to the gym. I don't want this to get the best of me, of course. But at the same time, I can't imagine myself doing anything else. I've given my whole life to wrestling, and I'm gonna continue to give whatever I have left to professional wrestling. I'm safe, I'm okay, don't you worry. But those guys in the ring across from me, they're not safe. I've been pretty d**n p**sed off for the last five months, having to sit here and look at this [title], look at this symbol of my own failure because my brain doesn't work, because I can't wrestle, because I can't go out for all of you and do the thing that you want me to do because I can't wrestle for you. So now, I'm just gonna wrestle for me. I'm gonna defend this championship. I'm gonna make sure my brothers in arms in the BCC are okay, and I'm gonna do my thing. I'm back, and I'm not going anywhere.”
While no one wants to be placed in the situation Yuta was in so early in their professional wrestling career, it's encouraging to know that he has been cleared to wrestle once more, and he can hopefully put that chapter of his life behind him. And the best part? Despite his extended absence, Tony Khan never stripped him of his title, so Yuta remains the Ring of Honor Pure Champion until proven otherwise, joining Jon Moxley as one of two non-AEW title holders in the BCC.
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