Bryan Danielson names ‘difficult’ part of new AEW role
Bryan Danielson is having fun in his new AEW role — but it does have one significant drawback.
After impressing during a guest stint at Forbidden Door 2025, Danielson was added to the AEW Dynamite commentary team on a full-time basis in September. He discussed the commentary role in a new interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, saying it’s been good and fun. The travel has been hard on Danielson’s body, though, due to the neck injury that he is dealing with.
“it’s been interesting, because I wasn’t anticipating being a commentator. I was at home and then they asked me to come in because Taz was getting shoulder surgery and to come in to help out a little bit,” Danielson said. “So the travel has been difficult for me. That’s one of the things I didn’t expect. Because I’ve traveled my entire adult life, right? It’s no big deal, but with my neck as bad as it is, all of a sudden, you take that, it was almost, gosh, it was like eight or nine months where I was only traveling maybe once a month. I’d go to the pay-per-views and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, the weekly travel has been a lot, and it’s just made sleeping hard and that sort of thing.”
Because of his injury, sitting on the plane and having to carry around luggage are difficult for Danielson. He noted that he’s made some adjustments like traveling with a cervical pillow.
“I have a cervical pillow now that I travel with me, just because — and for a while I was just sleeping with one of those hand towels underneath my neck, just so it’s not being pushed up or anything like that, but it’s impossible,” Danielson said. “I live on the West Coast, you know? And then I also live like an hour and a half to two hours from the airport. So it’s impossible for all these cross-country flights to stay in good posture the whole time and all that kind of stuff. And then heaven forbid I fall asleep and I do this and then I wake up and I’m like, oh no, I can’t feel my hand.”
Danielson’s preparation as a commentator is much different than when he was a full-time wrestler. In that previous role, he only really had to focus on what he was doing. Now Danielson needs to have a better understanding of everything that is going on.
“It’s been good and fun,” Danielson said about commentary. “Commentary is a skill. It’s something that you have to learn. I’ve been really lucky and grateful to have Taz and Excalibur and then Tony [Schiavone]. You know, I asked Tony Schiavone to, when he’s not busy backstage — and he’s super busy — if he listens to it and, ‘Can you give me some tips?’ and this sort of thing, because, you know, it’s not something that I’m naturally good at.”
Danielson noted that he’s on the cusp of needing neck surgery but would like to avoid that ever happening. He was doing well physically until the increased travel schedule. When asked about the status of his in-ring career, Danielson told Van Vliet that he hates the word “retired” and hasn’t put a definitive end on his time in the ring. But as far as the caliber of performer he used to be, Danielson said that guy does not exist anymore.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.