Bryan Danielson Reflects On Moment He Won AEW World Title At All In, Choice To Retire

Bryan Danielson's AEW World Championship victory over Swerve Strickland last night at AEW All In was an emotional victory, and in many ways a full circle one for the "American Dragon," cementing the second stage of his career after he returned from retirement in 2018. In many ways, it also made the win over Strickland even sweeter for Danielson.

At the post-All In press scrum, with his daughter Birdie by his side, Danielson reflected on his victory, and how his previous retirement, and his family being at ringside, allowed him to enjoy his match with Strickland more than he would've before retiring the first time.

"One of the real positives of my forced retirement before, is that since I've come back, I've been able...I feel like I've been able to not just enjoy all these moments, but really savor them," Danielson said. "Like, when I go out there, I feel them and I can lock it in, and even just talking about it with you right now, I'm getting goosebumps. And yeah, one of the joys I think of this is, of this specific night, is...I almost don't want it to end because of this, right? 

"I looked over multiple times during the match, and looked at her [Birdie], looked at my son, looked at my wife, and almost started crying. There was one point when the ketchup [blood], when there was a lot of ketchup, that I saw her [Birdie] kind of crying in the second row. They were in the front row, and she moved back to the second row and she was crying. Meanwhile, our son was laughing. And I was just saying thank you to whatever's out there in the universe that's gifted me this life, because...it just seems like magic, right? So yeah, it's beautiful."

As heartwarming as Danielson's victory was, it may also be among his last, as the AEW World Champion has made no secret that he is looking to wind down his full-time career, in favor of wrestling only on occasion going forward. While the wrestling world awaits this Wednesday to hear what Danielson's immediate plans are, he doesn't view the end of his full-time career as sad, especially since he is now being able to go out on his own terms, in order to spend time with his family, as opposed to having to be forced into retirement as he previously had.

"It's such a difference being forced to retire and choosing to retire," Danielson said. "One of the things that is really cool about this moment...so my daughter and I were just out there in the hallway, and she goes 'Daddy, you're the best wrestler in the world.' And I said 'Well that's not entirely true. There's lots of great wrestlers.' And she goes 'No, you're the best!' And...I asked her, I said 'Well, then why is daddy stopping wrestling?' And she said 'Because you love me.' 

"I want my kids to know that I could keep doing this, for a much longer period of time, at a very high level. But now it's time for me to go home and be with them. Like that's...sweet girl, I love you...I love you and Buddy and mama more than anything in the world, including wrestling in front of 50,000 people."