Bryan Danielson is once again on the shelf. The American Dragon suffered a broken orbital bone during a match against Andrade El Idolo on AEW Collision in October. Just five days later, Danielson wrestled again, teaming with Blackpool Combat Club stablemate Claudio Castagnoli to face Kazuchika Okada and AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy on AEW Dynamite. After the match, AEW made an effort to show Danielson clutching his face as Okada taunted him, seemingly making The Rainmaker responsible for his legitimate injury within storyline to potentially lay the groundwork for a future rematch between the two.
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Bryan Danielson Out For Several Weeks
The American Dragon is out of action.
As revealed on the latest episode of AEW Control Center, Bryan Danielson has in fact undergone surgery for his broken orbital bone and will remain on the shelf “until later in the year.” This gives some optimism to the possibility that Danielson will be healthy by AEW’s last pay-per-view event of 2023, AEW Worlds End, which goes down on December 30th.
If he is good to go by then, Danielson would also be healthy by NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18. There is no word on if there are plans for Danielson to compete at New Japan’s signature show in January, but he has long professed his desire to compete in the Far East. Considering Kazuchika Okada does not currently have an opponent for the event, as the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship will be contested between titleholder Sanada and G1 Climax winner Tetsuya Naito, an AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door rematch with Danielson could be in the cards if he is good to go by then.
This orbital bone injury is Danielson’s latest physical setback in his AEW run. Last summer, Danielson suffered a concussion at AEW Double or Nothing and was forced to miss both AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts as well as AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2022. This past June, Danielson broke his arm in his first singles encounter with Okada which resulted in him missing AEW ALL IN: London.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on Danielson’s recovery and return to the ring.
AEW Dynamite goes down tonight at 8 PM ET on TBS. You can check out the announced card below…
- AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Willow Nightingale
- Bullet Club Gold (Jay White, Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn) vs. MJF & three partners of his choosing
- The Golden Jets (Chris Jericho & Kenny Omega) vs. Angelo Parker & Matt Menard
- Tony Khan has an announcement
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