AEW: Bryan Danielson on “AEW Doesn’t Approach Other Companies in a ‘Warlike’ Fashion”, Cope on His Current Plans to Retire from Wrestling Once AEW Contract Expires, More News

Bryan Danielson Comments on “AEW Doesn’t Approach Other Companies in a ‘Warlike’ Fashion”

Talksport held a recent interview with Bryan Danielson. One of the topics discussed included Danielson’s thoughts about how he likes that AEW does not approach other wrestling companies in a “warlike” fashion unlike WWE and how he doesn’t know if there will be a point in the future where AEW will need to go more on the offensive.

“We don’t, at least it seems like to me, we as a company don’t approach other companies in a warlike fashion, right? We don’t feel like we’re in a war with anybody,” Danielson said. “But that’s not the same as the other side. So we have to — we’re constantly kind of on the defense in that. I don’t know the right strategy. I like the way Tony Khan handles things, because that in my mind, it makes us the good guys, right?

But I don’t know if at some point we need to go more on the offensive. I’ve had friends bring that up to me like, ‘Oh, you guys should attack.’ I’m like, wait a second. Like one, that’s not my personality. Two, that’s not Tony Khan’s personality. And I think that’s one of the things that drew me to AEW.”

Danielson also gave his thoughts about how AEW’s memorial show for Brodie Lee in 2020 had caught his attention while he was still in WWE and how that was the moment he realized AEW were the “good guys” of professional wrestling.

“It touched something in me and in my mind I was thinking like, ‘Oh, these are the good guys of professional wrestling.’ There’s going to be times where we make wrong, [or] bad decisions, that happens everywhere,” Danielson said. “But one of the things that I like to think about AEW is that we try — and we don’t market ourselves as this — to be good.”

Danielson also gave his thoughts about the future of AEW as a wrestling business.

“I think, obviously we can’t tell the future, but I think there’s going to be a lot of growth for AEW. I think there’s a tremendous opportunity right now in the media landscape to put a wrestling product out that is the kind of focus that Tony likes to put into AEW. So if I were to guess, I would say that we’re going to grow, but it’s impossible to tell.”

---

Cope Comments on His Current Plans to Retire from Wrestling After End of His AEW Contract

A recent episode of TSN 1050’s First Up with Korolnek & Colaiacovo radio show featured Adam “Cope” Copeland as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Cope’s thoughts about his current plans to retire from wrestling once his AEW contract expires in a couple of years.

“Not much longer. The schedule is far better than what it used to be. If you asked me to try and pull off over 200 days a year that I pulled before, there is absolutely no way because the recovery takes too long now. I’ll have a match and it’ll take me a good week to finally start walking normal. I’ve realized now, I’m 51 years old, I figure I have until maybe 53, the end of this contract, and then it’s probably time to call it a day and get out while I can still limp away [laughs]. Lick my wounds and do a whole lot of yoga after.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

---

AEW News & Notes

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Norfolk, Virginia featured Nick Comoroto making a surprise in-ring return. Comoroto teamed up with Rhett Titus & Myles Hawkins in a Trios match against The Opps (Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata, & Powerhouse Hobbs), which was won by The Opps. This was Comoroto’s first appearance and match in AEW and ROH since this past August due to a hip-related injury and hip resurfacing procedure.

As noted before, Skye Blue has been out of action from AEW since this past July due to a broken ankle injury. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Blue was in attendance backstage at Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Norfolk. It was reported that it is currently not known if Blue was just visiting or if it was for an official reason for potential in-ring return plans.

Billie Starkz recently announced on Twitter that she is only a few classes away from obtaining her associate’s degree. Starkz stated “Exams next week and then Summer break! Three classes away from my associates degree! Woohooo!“

In a recent interview with The Daily Star, Bryan Danielson gave his thoughts about him being part of AEW’s disciplinary committee. Danielson stated “Yeah, who has the perspective of like, okay, so from like the business side, so one of there’s two other people on the disciplinary committee, one’s a lawyer, one’s our chief financial officer maybe. But it has like a very business background, and they come at it from, we all come at it from different perspectives. We all, I think we’re all good at listening to each other and hearing each other’s perspectives, and then using those perspectives to weigh and balance, whatever the outcomes might be.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Buddy Matthews gave his thoughts about him being married to WWE talent Rhea Ripley and them working for different companies with different work schedules. Matthews stated “Sometimes it becomes a bit of a pain in the ass. But we just kind of lock in that well, she’s definitely on a Monday, whether she’s on live events or not, depends. But then if I’m on a Wednesday or a Saturday, then we get a couple of days in there. But we learn to work it out. She’s also, I get kind of emotional talking about it, I’ve married my best friend. There isn’t anyone that I’d want to spend any more time with. I only need her. That’s it. I don’t need a massive group of friends. I don’t need approval. As long as I have her I could be the clown too, and we can just be chilled. I don’t need to go out. Give me a pizza, my wife, a horror movie, and we are good. I’m on cloud nine, and then generally, I’ll fall asleep, but that’s because I’m comfortable. That’s a good thing for a guy, if a guy could fall asleep. So yeah, but she’s my best friend, and now I’m very lucky.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Wrestling the Rap Game podcast, former AEW talent Malakai Black, current Aleister Black in WWE, gave his thoughts about how he had pitched to work with Will Ospreay during his time in the company. Black stated “The Ospreay match is something that I actually pitched a couple of times. We had such good chemistry back then. We had some absolute barnburners and it’s also because I’m a bit of a calculus for him because I force him to do different things with his wrestling. When we did wrestle, I would work his leg, ‘Now you can’t fly. What are you going to do?’ I have a good relationship with Will. I remember sitting in his dad’s car and his dad was driving us from show A to show B, and I remember saying to him, ‘You’re going to be a big star. You’re going to be a really big star.’ At the time, the goal was Dragon Gate. I said to him, ‘That’s easy. That’s a matter of time.’ His road went the way it went, but now, he’s one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with Comicbook.com, Adam Cole gave his priase of Ricochet for the work he has done with his current heel character in AEW. Cole stated “Unbelievable. I mean, again, when you look at Ricochet, anyone who’s seen Ricochet wrestle, he’s maybe the best athlete I’ve ever seen. Just like an absolute freak of nature. We jokingly in the locker room – we call him an alien. Like, he’s not even a real person. He’s not even a human being. The things he can do [are] just absolutely unbelievable.Clearly one of the best, one of the most athletically gifted guys in the entire world, but getting to see this different side of Ricochet has been so much fun because he’s showing the world what he can bring to the table. Maybe people thought, ‘Oh, ok, cool. He can do all these really, really cool athletic things, and that’s awesome, and we really love that.’ But now he’s showing what a great character he can be. The timing that he has. His aura right now is absolutely unbelievable. So, yeah, Ricochet’s work has been absolutely incredible to watch. It’s been super, super fun. And I’ll tell you what, I may be a good guy, but I’m liking this new side of Ricochet. I am.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)

During the same interview, Adam Cole gave his thoughts about him working with Daniel Garcia and their recent feud for the TNT Championship. Cole stated “Yeah, absolutely. Like first and foremost, to go into Daniel Garcia a little bit. When I say that I have all the respect in the world for him, I genuinely mean that. I think I’ve said before that I think he’s the future of All Elite Wrestling and he’s already done an unbelievable job. Like you said, he’s a former TNT champion. He’s been white hot for a long time. Danny Garcia is is the real deal. He’s absolutely incredible. So I couldn’t think of a better guy to test myself against, than Daniel Garcia, especially with the trilogy of matches that we had. I feel like throughout the matches I had with Danny, I kind of found myself again, which I think was, was really, really important for me, especially returning from two pretty bad injuries. So, again, to win the championship against a guy like Daniel Garcia is, is partially what made that so special. But kind of the journey I’ve been on these past few years in AEW, I’ve definitely had some challenges, and I don’t think there’s any hiding that. I think that’s an absolute fact between the head injuries I’ve had and coming back for six months and then having that horrific freak accident, ankle injury, where I was out for over a year. There was a lot of mental stuff going on up here with questioning myself and wondering if I was ever going to be able to get back to a place where I felt fully comfortable and fully confident and feeling like, yeah, man, I’m back. The matches with Danny certainly made me feel that way. Of course, winning the TNT championship on my 17 year to the day wrestling anniversary was beyond cool. The fact that it was in Philadelphia, which is where I became a fan. It’s where I trained. It’s where I had my first match. It really felt like this amazing meant to be full circle moment, especially being in there with Danny. So that meant everything to me. It’s one of the highlights of my AEW career. One of the highlights of my wrestling career by far, and I think this is the start of something really, really special for me going forward in the years to come within AEW.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)