Why Bryan Danielson Says Match With Kazuchika Okada Was 'More Fun' After Breaking Arm

Over the past week, AEW's Bryan Danielson has been getting back into the swing of things, defeating Ricky Starks in a strap match at All Out, challenging Zack Sabre Jr. to a match at WrestleDream in Seattle, Washington, and continuing his feud with Starks on "AEW Collision." And he's done it all after rehabbing and coming back early from a broken arm, which he suffered during a match at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door against Kazuchika Okada. For most people, breaking their arm during a match and finishing it would be quite a painful experience. But Danielson is no normal person, and he admitted to "Sports Illustrated" that, all things considered, wrestling with a broken arm wasn't that bad.

"Hindsight? I think I had more fun because of it," said Danielson. "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." Not only would Danielson see the match through, but also emerge victorious by the end, using a makeshift submission to defeat Okada and give him bragging rights over the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion for the foreseeable future.