Bryan Danielson Compares His AEW All Out Debut to Main Eventing WWE WrestleMania 37

Bryan Danielson (fka Daniel Bryan) went from being in the main event of WWE’s WrestleMania 37 to arriving in All Elite Wrestling in just under five months. The former world champion was on the losing end of the Universal Championship triple threat match with Roman Reigns and Edge and admitted in interviews shortly after the show that he felt a disconnect as he made his way out onto the entrance ramp.

“When I’m wrestling, I feel everything and I feel like I’m really enjoying it,” he told BT Sport back in late April. “Like I’m out there and I’m like ‘Gosh,’ having fun. This was weird, I was out there and it was almost like I felt like I was detached. And I was out there, and it was so strange, in fact, that before the match started, I got this really weird feeling, I was like, ‘Oh no, is this what it’s like right before you die? Am I going to die? [laughs] I mean. huh, well, okay.’ I was like, if that happens it happens. [laughs]. It was just a really bizarre feeling. I don’t know why or how that happened, but it was unlike pretty much anything I’ve felt while wrestling before.”

After closing the All Out pay-per-view and cutting a promo for the sold-out crowd in the NOW Arena, Danielson said in the post-show media scrum that he felt that connection to his love for pro wrestling and the fans was back.

“Yeah, for sure,” Danielson said. “You know, it was interesting, for the first time in a really long time, Tony [Khan] put me in a trailer. I was hiding in the trailer. So I had to go back to the trailer after and then, you know, I talked to my wife and everything. Then I was sitting there and just kind of meditating after and you can just feel it. So many times we just like bypass cool things. And I kept sitting there. I don’t know how many of you meditate? I know, it’s bull— mood stuff or whatever. But, just feeling the sensation of it, it still resonated. That’s one of the very unique things about pro wrestling, is that you go out there and you can feel, for the most part, most of my career, almost every time I’ve gotten out there and really felt something, and tonight it was like a feeling that wouldn’t stop until they came and got me out of the trailer.”