Bryan Danielson recently spoke with DC 101’s Mike Jones to promote tonight’s AEW Rampage and “The Buy-In” show from Miami, Florida.
During the interview, Danielson spoke about returning to his American Dragon persona, trying to elevate other talent, AEW monetizing the wrestling industry, his match with Minoru Suzuki and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On trying to elevate other talent: “One of the things one of my mentors has talked to me about in this run is like, ‘Hey, make pro wrestling better. Push these guys, make them come up to your level. Don’t ever stoop down to other people’s level.’ I’m in a great space where like a lot of eyeballs are on what we’re doing, and really focus on and presenting the best pro wrestling possible, and changing the game.”
On AEW modernizing the industry: “It’s traditional pro wrestling that makes sense, modernized for modern fans. Because realistically, you know that the world has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Everything is modernized now, like the way we watch TV shows, you know? All that kind of stuff, everything. If you don’t change with the times, you’re going to get left behind, and I think AEW is doing a great job of modernizing wrestling and giving people something to be excited about every week.”
On returning to his American Dragon persona: “I tend to be, outside of the wrestling ring, just very kind, and gentle, and all that kind of stuff, but it’s one of the things that wrestling allows you to do. And I think the same thing with fighting or when people go and do jiu jitsu or kick boxing, it like allows you to express the more aggressive part of yourself. And before, that wasn’t my role, and now, being able to do whatever I want in the ring, I tend to be pretty aggressive.”
On his match with Minoru Suzuki on tonight’s AEW Rampage: The Buy In: “The only time I’ve ever wrestled him in a one on one match, I was 23 years old and he beat the absolute crap out of me. And it was in Japan, but by fighting back when he did that, I earned a lot of respect from some of the Japanese guys in the locker room, specifically Yuji Nagata who, at the time, I thought he was the best guy I’d ever been in the ring with. And after the match, as I walked by, he gave me a thumbs up and said, ‘You did a good job.’ And, you know, when you’re 23 and 4 years into wrestling, something like that really means a lot, you know?”
Check out the complete interview at Apple.com. H/T to Wrestling Inc for transcribing the above quotes.