Bryan Danielson Broken Orbital Bone Injury Update

As noted before, Bryan Danielson recently suffered a broken orbital bone injury. This injury was originally believed and later stated by AEW for storyline reasons to have taken place at the October 25th Dynamite show but instead actually took place at the October 21st Collision show.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources confirmed Sports Illustrated’s report about Danielson had suffered the injury at the October 21st Collision show and provided some new details regarding Danielson’s injury.

Meltzer reported that Danielson suffered the injury around a minute before the finish and happened following a spot where Andrade El Idolo attempted a spinning back elbow strike but his head accidentally struck Danielson’s head in the eye area. Meltzer reported that Danielson was seen sporting a black eye during his tag team match on the October 25th Dynamite show.

AEW officials and Danielson reportedly attempted to keep his injury quiet in order to do a storyline injury angle for the finish of his tag team match at the following Dynamite show.

Meltzer reported that Danielson’s status for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 18 event on January 4, 2024 is still unknown. Meltzer speculated that if Danielson is not able to compete at the event, then Claudio Castagnoli might end up replacing Danielson for his expected rematch against Kazuchika Okada at the event. The basis reportedly revolves around Castagnoli’s promo from this past Saturday’s AEW Collision show where he referenced going to Japan in order to get revenge on Okada for his role in “injuring” Danielson.

One top talent spoken to reportedly stated how deflating it was for Danielson to get hurt again due to how valuable he is for AEW. This same talent reportedly stated that those backstage knew he was hurt in the match with Andrade but everyone had been hopeful that it would not have been something serious.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Danielson’s injury actually occurred early into the match with Andrade and not late into it. It was reported that Danielson had told others that his injury was a “freak accident” and happened during the opening lock-up where he was hit with an accidental forearm or elbow strike by Andrade.