Bryan Danielson is offering a deeply personal look at why he is stepping away from the ring, pointing to one pivotal match as the turning point in his decision.

While appearing at Starrcast, Danielson revealed that his physical condition significantly declined following his highly physical match against Will Ospreay at AEW Dynasty 2024. The bout aggravated long-standing issues with his neck, which had never fully recovered from surgery in 2014. Despite continuing to wrestle in AEW on a limited basis after dropping the AEW World Title at WrestleDream, Danielson says it was during that contest with Ospreay that everything changed, and he places the blame squarely on himself.

“After the Ospreay match, I knew it was time to step away from the ring. My neck has been bad for 10-plus years. I had a neck surgery in 2014. My neck never really came back to where it was before. I was always kind of in a little bit of pain, and then after I wrestled Will , Will is such an incredible athlete, and I am such a stupid man… He can do things that nobody I’ve ever wrestled can do, and because he can do things that nobody I’ve ever wrestled can do, I put myself in a position where I didn’t actually know what I was doing and didn’t ask him what I should do, and so then I landed on my head, and then from there, my neck just got progressively worse.”

But it was not just one match that led to his decision. Danielson also revealed that following his Owen Hart Cup clash with Shingo Takagi, a medical evaluation raised serious concerns.

“I’d gotten an MRI right after the match with Shingo that was in the Owen Hart Cup last year and the MRI was not great, and yeah, I questioned whether we should even do what we were going to do.”

The accumulating damage began taking a toll on his day-to-day life. Danielson shared how the pain disrupted his sleep and forced him to confront what really mattered.

“It was at that point and then I stopped being able to sleep for more than three or four hours at a time and then it just got to a point where I was just like, ‘Okay, I can’t go on like this…’ I have two relatively young kids and when you talk about, okay, where you put your focus, where you put your attention is the most important thing in your life, right? Am I putting my focus and my attention on these kids who need me and who need to be loved by me?”

Danielson’s candid comments reflect a hard but necessary decision, putting family and health ahead of in-ring glory.