Bryan Danielson Had An Interesting Reaction To Okada's Entrance At Forbidden Door

Bryan Danielson forced Kazuchika Okada to tap out in the main event of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023. It was the first time the two wrestlers had ever collided, with "The American Dragon" — who suffered a fractured forearm during the pay-per-view bout – challenging the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion to the dream clash earlier this month. Danielson reflected on the match during the Forbidden Door 2023 post-show media scrum and shared his interesting reaction to Okada's entrance. 

"I didn't wanna follow them [Omega and Ospreay]. Ask Tony," Danielson said. "I was like, 'I don't wanna follow these guys.' But, you know, you have to put a lot of that aside, right? You know what's really interesting? So I was angry a little bit before my match over something unrelated to wrestling, and then '[The] Final Countdown' hit, and it just brought a smile to my face. 

"And then you know what was interesting? Is that as I was out there — you know, last week was Father's Day, right? Last Sunday in the United States, it was Father's Day. And it was weird this reaction I got internally when the money dropped [for Okada's entrance] because a lot of people think that that's cool, right? They think it's super cool. 

"I come from a relatively poor area, right? And my dad, like, he never made much money, and this is a place that rains 82 inches a year, you know, the sky is grey, sand is grey, the ocean is grey, and my dad had to work his a*s off his entire life and he never got to see — he always wanted to see a white sandy beach and he never got to see it until, you know, he passed away. 

"And so I see that, and he [Okada] comes out, and it's like this gaudy entrance, where it's dropping money, and it's the 'Rainmaker' and all that kind of stuff. And there was something inside of me that was just like — and people think it's cool. You saw a whole arena cheering, and it made me angry because being poor as a kid made me feel less than, right? And so to see people who you may look up to come out and all of sudden there was this fire in me, and I was just like, 'You know what? I'm gonna kick this guy's f*****g a*s.' 

"And, so yeah, I wasn't thinking at that point. I wasn't thinking about having to follow Kenny and Will or anything like that. It was thinking about, 'Okay. I'm here to do a job, and I'm gonna do it as best as I can."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit All Elite Wrestling and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.