As noted before, this past Saturday’s AEW WrestleDream 2024 event in Tacoma, Washington featured Jon Moxley defeating Bryan Danielson to become the new AEW World Champion and Danielson’s full-time wrestling career ending in the process. Danielson is believed to currently not have any firm plans to wrestle again.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Danielson is currently scheduled to undergo an MRI to determine the damage and state of his neck. Meltzer reported that Danielson previously had an MRI done not too long ago and it revealed that he had damage all the way down his neck. Meltzer also reported that depending on if the level of damage is the same as it was before or if it has worsened and by how much will determine if Danielson will need to undergo surgery or not.
The current hope reportedly is that Danielson won’t need surgery and can heal up strong enough with stem cell treatment therapy. Meltzer reported if that is not possible, then Danielson will have to undergo surgery and his potential return to the ring would be all dependent on how well his surgery and recovery goes.
In regards to the decision for Jon Moxley to be the one to end Danielson’s full-time career, Meltzer reported that AEW officials made the decision from having Darby Allin defeating Danielson to Moxley defeating him instead as a way of putting as much heat as possible on Moxley and his new Blackpool Combat Club group in an attempt to jump-start interest in the company.