AEW's Bryan Danielson Addresses Missed Opportunity To Compete In 2024 G1 Climax

Since he joined AEW back in 2021, Bryan Danielson has been able to check several things off his bucket list, including wrestling in Arena Mexico and getting to compete in the Tokyo Dome for New Japan Pro Wrestling. But for a brief moment, Danielson may have had the opportunity to fulfill another goal by competing in New Japan's 2024 edition of the G1 Climax tournament. Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Danielson revealed the idea came about during his last match in Japan earlier this year.

"Over the winter, I told Gedo, the booker in New Japan 'I would love to do the G1 this year!'" Danielson said. "I'd just wrestled Zack Sabre in Japan [in February]. I was so excited. It all happened in the heat of the moment."

In the end, cooler heads prevailed, and Danielson's focus is instead on winning the AEW World Championship from Swerve Strickland at AEW All In. And the reasons that led to Danielson declining to do the G1 are the same reasons that make it unlikely for him to do so in the future, though he didn't fully dismiss doing the tournament after he transitions from a full-time wrestling career to part-time.

"I would like to think it would be possible," Danielson said. "I don't limit possibilities in my mind. But it seems unlikely. My neck isn't doing real great right now. So there's my health. But even if Tony [Khan] freed me up for the entire summer and said 'Go do the G1,' I wouldn't want to leave my wife and kids for that long. I don't think my wife would think it was good for my health, either. I've always wanted to do the G1. I don't know if that's going to be in the cards for me, and that's OK."