Bryan Danielson worked his most recent AEW match while suffering from an injury.
The American Dragon was seen unable to complete the bout on October 25th where he teamed with Claudio Castagnoli to defeat the team of Oranga Cassidy and Kazuchika Okada as he was being tended to by medical staff in the closing moments of the show. It was later announced that Bryan Danielson would be out of action until 2024 due to injury, with Castagnoli announcing that his partner had suffered a broken orbital bone at the hands of Cassidy or Okada and was out for revenge. However, a new report states that neither was responsible.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Danielson actually got injured during his clash with Andrade El Idolo on the October 21 Collision and the Okada match was used to write him off of TV:
Yeah, I guess, he went in with a blackeye. They didn’t know how serious it was. But obviously, he worked on it. And they shot the angle to take them out during the match, so the injury took place when they bonked heads. So it was basically a fluke. It was just one of those things. It wasn’t like he got hit too hard or anything. Andrade was doing a spinning elbow and Danielson’s head was in one place and his head was in the wrong place and they bumped heads. And that happens in fights and things like that, you know, fairly often actually.
Will Bryan Danielson Be At The Tokyo Dome?
Following the rare submission victory over Okada at Forbidden Door, it appeared that the rivalry between The American Dragon and The Rainmaker is far from over, likely setting up for a rematch at Wrestle Kingdom 18. A new report has provided an update on whether Bryan Danielson will be available for Wrestle Kingdom and if there are plans to add injury time to his AEW contract.
In a further update on November 1st, Bryan Danielson has undergone surgery and a return date has been revealed.
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Further confirmation that the injury took place on Collision has been reported courtesy of Fightful Select on November 3rd, with it being suspected that the opening lock-up caused the broken bone.