Bryan Danielson is fully ready for his upcoming dream match against Zack Sabre Jr.
Danielson and Sabre are finally facing off at AEW’s WrestleDream pay-per-view this Sunday (October 1). It will be the first time the two have met in the ring since 2009. They were supposed to wrestle each other at Forbidden Door 2022, but Danielson had to miss that event due to injury.
Danielson suffered a broken arm while facing Kazuchika Okada in the main event of Forbidden Door 2023 this June. He underwent surgery in July and was able to return to the ring in September. Danielson has had three matches in total since then, with two of them being stipulation matches against Ricky Starks.
Danielson told the New York Post that he’s now “fully cleared” for WrestleDream. Danielson says the stipulations for his matches against Starks made it easier for him to protect his arm while coming back from injury.
The match will be the first one Danielson will be fully cleared for after returning early from the broken arm he suffered against Kazuchika Okada at Forbidden Door in June to face Ricky Starks in a strap match at All Out in September after CM Punk’s firing.
Danielson said he has had to do more violent gimmick matches, such as the Texas Deathmatch with Starks on Collision last week because it made it easier for him to protect his arm and because he likes wrestling different styles.
“Our doctors would still not like me to do certain things, but from like two weeks ago when I had the tag match the strength in my hand is coming back way faster than they thought it would, the mobility and all that stuff,” Danielson said. “I still have to be cautious probably for the next year or so. They put a steel rod in my arm. One of the things they said is that it actually makes it more likely to break not where it broke before, but where the end of the rod is. It’s like a fulcrum for the bone to bend against.”
Danielson vs. Sabre is a battle between two of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time. Either Danielson or Sabre has won Best Technical Wrestler in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards every year for the past 18 years.
Danielson told the New York Post that he’s blown away by what Sabre does in the ring.
“I’d be like, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?'” Danielson said. “When I was in WWE, a lot of the technical wrestling [Sabre was doing] wasn’t conducive to that style of technical wrestling. But when I was on the independents, I did a lot of that stuff. I would just be blown away by what Zack was doing and I continue to be blown away to this day.”
On Collision this Saturday, Danielson is teaming with Wheeler Yuta & FTR against Starks, Big Bill & Aussie Open. Sabre will be on commentary for the match.
The Collision episode and WrestleDream PPV are both taking place from Danielson’s home state of Washington.
