Bryan Danielson Reflects On His Final WWE Match Against Roman Reigns

Bryan Danielson has made the jump over to AEW after spending much of his career with WWE, winning multiple world titles for the company and being established as a Grand Slam Champion.

While on "My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox," Danielson reflected on his final singles match in WWE against the current Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and if he knew for sure that he was going to end up in AEW.

"The one unique experience at WrestleMania [37] where it was just like, 'Woah, this feels empty,'" Danielson said. "... Ironically, my last match in WWE with Roman, I was pumped for. I loved it, and it was in the Thunderdome. It was a bunch of screams and canned-down noises and stuff, and I was, 'This is great! I love this,' and like, I honestly thought that's a perfect way to go out.

"Because I also wasn't sure if I was even going sign with AEW," Danielson said. "I was debating back and forth, but I was also debating on just kind of — I don't want to say hanging it up, but just stop doing it full time and focus more on being a dad."

Danielson, who went by Daniel Bryan in WWE, had multiple shots at Reigns' Universal Championship leading up to "Friday Night Smackdown" on April 30th, 2021. This final match had an added stipulation: if Danielson were to lose to Reigns, Danielson would be banned from "Smackdown" forever. Danielson lost the match against the Tribal Chief after almost 30 minutes of action in the main event and would not be seen on WWE programming following this loss. "The American Dragon" would wind up taking off many months from wrestling after his defeat.

Danielson would pop up in AEW at the end of All Out 2021 following the main event where Kenny Omega retained the AEW World Championship over Christian Cage, coming to the aid of Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, and Cage as they fought off Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, and a debuting Adam Cole. He's stated that he's not waived off a return to WWE; however, Danielson is currently under contract with AEW and will be for at least a couple more years.

While with WWE, Danielson found nothing short of success in fan appreciation, championship success, big moments, etc. Danielson wound up winning the Tag Team Championships twice — each time alongside a giant in Kane and Rowan — the United States Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, the World Heavyweight Championship, and the WWE Championship four times. Danielson was also in the main event of WrestleMania 30 and the second night of WrestleMania 37, as mentioned.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox" and give a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.