AEW superstar Bryan Danielson revealed he was forced to retire from WWE in 2016 for “lying”about his medical history.
Danielson (formerly known as Daniel Bryan) thought his wrestling career was over when doctors wouldn’t clear him due to a history of concussions.
But after more than two years of neurological and physical evaluations, the unthinkable happened and the five-time world champion was cleared to compete again.
The 40-year-old grappler went on to win the WWE Championship one last time before moving to AEW a month ago.
Danielson told WDEL: “I legitimately thought I was healthy and still think that I’m healthy.
“One of the reasons I was forced to retire was not because of the concussions, but because I lied about that.
“You have to understand, from WWE’s point of view, I had been wrestling for them for six years but then all of a sudden, they opened this Pandora’s box about ‘lying about his medical history and now we can’t trust him’.
“A lot of that was building the trust back, but they were also legitimately looking after my health.
“I was going to see doctor after doctor and doing everything that I could to improve brain function to show, above and beyond, that my brain was healthy.
“It’s also my love of wrestling. It felt like I wasn’t really to be done yet, I still needed to come back.
“I also think there’s a lot left on concussion research to be done, and when you’re seeing the top doctors in the country and they’re all clearing you to do what you love to do, I think you should be able to do that.”
Danielson is among many former WWE superstars that have joined AEW, such as CM Punk, Adam Cole, Chris Jericho, Miro and more.
The ex-WWE Champion has now been embroiled in a rivalry with AEW World Champion Kenny Omega.
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