AEW: Bryan Danielson In-Ring Wrestling Career Future Update, HOOK on Inspiration for His Ring Name & MJF Being Involved with Him Becoming a Pro Wrestler, More News

Bryan Danielson In-Ring Wrestling Career Future Update

Bryan Danielson has been absent from AEW since his full-time in-ring retirement match at this past October’s AEW WrestleDream 2024 event. Danielson has yet to undergo neck surgery to repair his neck but he has been considering other options instead.

Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that while Danielson’s in-ring future has been in question for some time, his prescense within AEW has bever fully disappeared. Danielson reportedly is still involved as a creative consultant and helps out backstage or with media for AEW. Sapp reported that his sources stated that AEW has been very deliberate with their wording only referring to Danielson as being done “full-time” as a way to leave the door open for a future return.

In regards to Danielson’s surprise appearance after AEW’s tapings for their ROH Global Wars Mexico show this past Wednesday in Mexico City, Sapp reported that Danielson coming out to save Blue Panther from Shane Taylor Promotion’s attack meant a lot to him. Those spoken to reportedly stated that AEW brought Shane Taylor Promotions into the country specifically for the post-match and show segment.

Sapp reported that those spoken to stated that the current belief within AEW is that Danielson will compete again in the ring in the future. Danielson’s physical interaction at the ROH Global Wars Mexico taping reportedly solidified this belief within AEW.

Sapp also reported that those spoken to also stated that Wheeler Yuta using Danielson’s moved since betraying him to join the Death Riders is not a conicidence and instead something set up by AEW officials for Danielson for when or if he decides to return to the ring.

---

HOOK Comments on Inspiration for His Ring Name & MJF Being Involved with Him Becoming a Pro Wrestler

A recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Live featured HOOK as the guest. One of the topics discussed included HOOK’s thoughts about the origin of his ring name being something he came up with instead of his father Taz and how MJF was involved in him becoming a professional wrestler.

“No (my dad did not come up with the HOOK name). Nah, he didn’t come up with the name HOOK. Nah, so, it was me… MJF was involved in my inception of becoming a pro wrestler. MJF was right there. He was with me the first day I got in the ring. He helped me fine-tune ideas that I had and it was us all together kind of spitballing different ideas with a name and I loved every connection that comes with the name HOOK. It’s homage to my father, right? From Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Also, the old school term, the hook and stretch, f*ck somebody up… I wanted something that was one word, that was short, punch, quick, boom, I like that, and I liked the way the letters look next to each other. The H.O.O.K. because they’re almost symmetrical. With the ‘K,’ it’s kind of like a f*cked up ‘H’ and I just liked the way the letters look next to each other, the punchiness of it, as well as the different connections and it was just meant to be.”

HOOK also gave his thoughts about how his father originally did not want him to pursue a wrestling career when he was growing up and the process that led to him deciding to become a pro wrestler.

“You know, it’s pretty funny. When I was a kid, my dad told me to be anything but a pro wrestler when I grew up. So, it wasn’t necessarily the plan from younger at all. However, I was an only child and super close to my father forever so I always took a deep interest in wrestling just because it was what my father did and I would come up with my own ideas of what I thought I would do if I was a wrestler and stuff but… once I got older and I wanted to use my athleticism and creativity to make an income for myself and I started to take more serious — the idea of — aye, maybe I could really do something with professional wrestling, and I developed a more hardcore vision and started training…”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2

---

AEW News & Notes

Kenny Omega recently surpassed the milestone of 100 days as the current AEW International Champion as of this past Tuesday.

This past Wednesday’s AEW Grand Slam Mexico show at the Arena Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico featured Bandido, Templario, Atlantis, Atlantis Jr, Adam Cole, Brody King, & Daniel Garcia defeating FTR (Stokely Hathaway & Dax Harwood), Volador Jr., & Don Callis Family (Hechicero, Josh Alexander, Konosuke Takeshita, & Kyle Fletcher) in a 14-Man Tag Team match. This match was notable for King coming out wearing an “Abolish ICE” shirt in support of the recent nationwide protests against President Donald Trump’s orders enacting ICE raids against illegal immigrants and deporting them without due process that has also led to legal immigrants being arrested and deported as well. King’s shirt drew online social media and national media attention both in support and against his shirt.

This past Wednesday’s AEW Grand Slam Mexico show also featured Cash Wheeler and Claudio Castagnoli being pulled from their scheduled matches on the show. Besides Wheeler and Castagnoli, Billie Starkz was also pulled from her scheduled tag team match with Athena at that night’s ROH Global Wars Mexico tapings. Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported in a recent Q&A article that the exact reasons why Wheeler, Castagnoli, and Starkz were pulled from this past Wednesday’s tapings is currently not known based on his sources.

AEW and Ring of Honor commentator Ian Riccaboni recently reflected on BlueSky about his pride in working for such an inclusive promotion in regards to social issues. Riccaboni stated “Catching up on Dynamite and between Hanger and Brody, unconditional support for our LGBTQIA+ wrestlers, staff, crew, and fans during Pride Month and every month, and celebrating Juneteenth, I’ve never been more confident I picked the right team to play for and I’m glad that they will have me.“

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s The Takedown on SI, current ROH Women’s World Champion Athena gave her thoughts about her recent match and feud against Mercedes Mone in this year’s Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament. Athena stated “It left me wanting so much more. It left me wanting to do a full storyline with Mercedes Mone. I feel like I hold myself on such a high pedestal, because I feel like I always have people depending on me. Down from my indie company, down to my ROH locker room. We put our hearts on a platter, and I felt like in that moment, I was proud of myself. I just remember having a tear come to my eye. And I don’t really get too emotional. There’s been a few times that I’ve cried. My most recent was Japan, [because] I wanted it so bad. But I was just kind of swelling with pride, because it just was magic for me. It was like I found a true equal in the ring to me, on every level, who countered my chaos.“

In a recent interview with the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Red Velvet gave her thoughts about how her current reign with the ROH Womrn’s World Television Championship has helped push her to become better in the ring and with promo work for her wrestling career. Velvet stated “I’m gonna get real with you guys. This was my first title on television, right? You don’t get a handbook on how to be a champion, what it takes to be a champion, you just kind of go by what you assume, your morals, and what you want to be as a champion. When I won this belt, instantly I was like, ‘Oh, I have a target on my back.’ I never knew what it was like to have a target on my back because I was chasing the target, I was always chasing the champion. I had no idea like, okay, what am I about to get myself into? It’s been amazing. I’ve wrestled so many different girls during my title reign. You have Diamanté in that street fight, Layla at the time, we went back and forth. So many people, I learned so much after every defense. My attitude hasn’t changed from when I wasn’t a champion to when I was a champion because guess what, when you get in the ring and the bell rings, as quickly as you can win is as quickly as you can lose. What I always make sure I don’t do is underestimate my opponent because people underestimated me all the time. People underestimated me when I was going against Billie and I was like, aha, jokes on you, it’s my night. But, I never underestimate my opponents. If I get to know who I wrestle a little further, I’ll do my due diligence and watch their stuff. I’m still a student of the game while being champion. This reign has been great, it’s really pushed me, I’ve had the opportunity to be showcased as a champion during promos, so thank you for that, keep giving me the mic, I want to talk. I hope I get more opportunities to show off what I can do on the mic and other things but this run has been great.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)