Bryan Danielson looks back at his bout with Kazuchika Okada from AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2.
The match, which headlined the second edition of the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, was highly praised by fans and critics across the board.
After the match, Danielson revealed on the post-show press conference that he fractured his forearm during the bout with Okada.
'The American Dragon' defied expectations and made a quick return to the company only two months later, competing in a Strap Match at All Out against Ricky Starks.
In a new interview with Sports Illustrated, Daniel reflected on the bout with Okada and said that he had more fun wrestling with the injury.
“Hindsight? I think I had more fun because of it. During the match, I turned to the referee and said, ‘I think I fractured my arm.’ I’m in the ring with someone whose English isn’t his first language, and we didn’t even know for sure what it was to communicate. Even after the match when I was in the press conference, I didn’t realize how bad the break was." This is where you look at what is really satisfaction. Satisfaction and pleasure are not the same thing. Satisfaction comes from doing something hard and accomplishing it. So the satisfaction came from doing the hard thing and seeing it through to completion. Although I talk about the satisfaction of completing the match against Okada with the broken arm, it’s actually the singular worst injury I’ve had. My neck injury was worse, but that was the result of years of abuse on my neck. It’s the same with the concussions. No single concussion was worse than the break of my arm. And because of that, it put me at a point where I couldn’t be there for my kids the way I wanted.”
Bryan Danielson is set to face off against Zack Sabre Jr. at AEW WrestleDream. Fans can learn more about the bout by clicking here.
Fightful will have full coverage of AEW Dynamite on Wednesday beginning at 8 p.m. EST.
Special thanks to Justin Barrasso and Sports Illustrated for the quote(s).
