Bryan Danielson reveals real reason he had to retire from WWE in 2016 and addresses concussion rumours

On February 8, 2016, Daniel Bryan was forced to retire from WWE.

At the time, it seemed like the former five-time world champion had suffered too many concussions and had to retire in his prime.

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Bryan would return just over two years later and resumed his in-ring career. Now, he has been born again as Bryan Danielson in AEW and appears at the peak of his powers at 40 years old.

During an interview with wdel.com, Danielson explained how his retirement came to be and WWE’s stance on it all.

“I legitimately thought I was healthy and still think that I’m healthy,” Danielson said. “One of the reasons I was forced to retire was not because of the concussions, but because I lied about that.

“You have to understand, from WWE’s point of view, I had been wrestling for them for six years but then all of a sudden, they opened this Pandora’s box about ‘lying about his medical history and now we can’t trust him.’

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“A lot of that was building the trust back, but they were also legitimately looking after my health. I was going to see doctor after doctor and doing everything that I could to improve brain function to show, above and beyond, that my brain was healthy.

“It’s also my love of wrestling. It felt like I wasn’t ready to be done yet, I still needed to come back. 

“I also think there’s a lot left on concussion research to be done, and when you’re seeing the top doctors in the country and they’re all clearing you to do what you love to do, I think you should be able to do that.”

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Bryan has been proving that since joining AEW following their All Out pay-per-view last month.

He immediately targeted Kenny Omega and is now trying to make his way through The Elite to get another shot, but we now know that Hangman Adam Page is next in line for Omega after he won the Casino Ladder Match last week on the two-year anniversary of Dynamite.

Danielson has previously said how difficult he found it to leave WWE and the special relationship he has with WWE chairman Vince McMahon, he believed he would be more fulfilled wrestling in AEW.