Brian Danielson to retire?

gimmick

Source: PWInsider.com

Following the final set of Ring of Honor's HDNet tapings tonight at the ECW Arena, Bryan Danielson got on the mic and addressed the crowd. Danielson spoke to the crowd and told them that at this point in his career he doesn't know how much longer he can continue wrestling as his body has sustained a lot of abuse throughout the years, however he salutes the current ROH locker room by saying its currently the best in company history. He then thanked the crowd for supporting ROH for the last 7 years and said it was through them that the TV taping was possible. He then cued a tech guy to play Europe's "Final Countdown" as other ROH wrestlers joined Danielson in the ring.

What this leaves out is that Danielson went on to say that he will keep going for the fans. But, is he actually sowing the seeds for a retirement in the next 12 months? The way I look at it, is if his body is showing too much wear and tear, he has to walk away. He wrestles an aggressive style, one which probably hurts his body quite a bit. Last thing I would want to see happen him is end up like The Dynamite Kid, or worse again, like Chris Benoit.

But just to ignore any impending retirement for now, where does Danielson go from here. If he was going to be picked up by WWE or TNA, it would have happened by now. Unforttunately for him, I just do not think his style is suited to either company. Plus his size and look leave him down also.

Its a shame for him that that is the case, as for my money, he is the very best wrestler in the world at the moment. I love his matches. rarely do i see a match with is not thoroughly gripping.

Anyone who needs an introduction to Danielson, you should watch the following matches
Vs Nigel McGuinness ROH UNIFIED
VS Nigel McGuinness ROH Driven
Vs KENTA ROH Driven & Death Before Dishonour V
Vs Alex Shelley Arena Warfare
Vs Tyler Black Breakout
Vs CM Punk FIP (not sure which show)
Vs Samoa Joe Fight Of The Century
Vs Austin Aries - any one of them, they are all great.

I am not familiar with any of his Japanese work. Perhaps the likes of Fozzy or Flahavaj could do the honours there?

Mr. IWJ

Isn't he expected to sign with WWE when his ROH contract expires in the summer?

gimmick

Well he has refused to sign for WWE in the past I think. Have not seen anything anywhere saying he will move there.

jeffk

Just as ROH gets a tv deal and all.If he works for 12 more months hopefully more tv less punishing matches.Then he can build up a wrestler and retire/put him over an run the ROH school full time.

Fozzy

He's always said that he'll stop when he's not having fun anymore and he's been adamant about not being one of those guys who never leaves the business. There's things in life that are more important to him than wrestling, which is pretty incredible considering how good he is

I'd be very sad to see him retire. I don't know what way to take this yet, but I've always got the impression that he'd be finished wrestling within ten years

A lot of his Japanese matches have been lower on the card or in six-man tags, and I haven't really gone out of my way to see a whole lot of them. He had a run with NOAH's junior heavyweight title last year though, and he had some great matches

I remember listening to Wrestling Observer Live one Sunday night in late 2007. Meltzer and Alvarez were talking about all the drug issues in wrestling and the impact of Benoit's actions and the whole discussion was just really depressing. Then, going into a break, Danielson's theme music came on, because it's just one of the regular songs that they play on that show. They started talking about him and Dave just lit up saying that he'd just watched a six-man tag from Japan with Danielson in it and absolutely every little thing he did was perfect and that he was so far ahead of the other five guys, even though they were pretty accomplished wrestlers themselves

He's one of a kind and I never tire of watching him work. He's just incredible. I hope he doesn't have to retire

Fozzy

Having read some other reports of his speech, I really don't think that he's got any plans to retire any time soon :pac:

It just sounds like a speech where he thanked the fans for everything, as it's a big moment for ROH