Bryan Danielson Says He Isn't The Best In The World Anymore, Names AEW Stars Who Are

For a long time, AEW's Bryan Danielson was considered one of the best wrestlers in the world. But, according to the man himself, that time has passed.

Danielson, who has called time on his career, was recently asked on "Kairouz Bros" if he still believes that he's the best in the world. The AEW star discussed honestly how he no longer believes that he's the best, citing his past neck injury as the reason for his downturn. 

"No. Not even close. Not anymore," declared Danielson. "In the last ... gosh, even when I did that promo [with Swerve], I was not the best wrestler in the world. You know, there was a point where I stopped being able to do some of the things that I could normally do because my neck was so bad. So, shortly before my last match with Jon Moxley, I wrestled Okada on TV, and I never get tired when I wrestle ever, right? But my legs — because my neck was so bad, my legs started giving out. I was like, 'Oh no, what do I do now that my legs aren't working?' And it's just like, 'Okay, well, I'll try to get through this.'"

The neck injury forced Danielson to retire from the ring once again, preventing him from holding the moniker of being the best wrestler in the world. However, others have taken that mantle, with Danielson naming a few who can proudly call themselves the best.

Bryan Danielson listed a few stars who have impressed him in the ring, naming a couple of AEW wrestlers — some of whom he has shared the ring with — as among the best currently in pro wrestling.

"Okay, so I'm going to limit this to AEW because there are so many different styles of wrestling and all these different things. But as far as the people in AEW, I think Bandido has had this incredible year. He's the ROH Champion, and he just had this match with Hechicero on a Ring of Honor pay-per-view that was just awesome. And then you have Will Ospreay, Swerve, Hangman — Hangman's freaking awesome — I think Kyle Fletcher. There are just so many guys," he said. "That's even discounting the women, right? You look at Toni Storm and Mercedes, and they're both fantastic."

The legendary star listed one non-AEW star in his list, NJPW's Zack Sabre Jr., who has impressed Danielson with his style of wrestling, which the former AEW World Champion called "super compelling" to watch. Danielson knows ZSJ closely, with them having wrestled each other as far back as 2008.