4-time WWE Champion finally reacts: "These (AEW) are the good guys of professional wrestling"

A former WWE Champion has shed a personal light on his motivations behind jumping ship from the Stamford-based company to AEW. The star in question, Bryan Danielson, retired from active competition last year.

The American Dragon had enjoyed an incredibly successful career in the sports entertainment juggernaut, where he rose to the top, under the ring-name Daniel Bryan, to become a WrestleMania main eventer. Although many expected him to finish his career there, the Washington-native shocked fans by leaving WWE and debuting in AEW at All Out 2021.

Speaking to talkSPORT in a recent interview, Bryan Danielson reflected on feeling moved by the Tony Khan-led company's special tribute show to honor Brodie Lee in the wake of his tragic passing in December, 2020. The execution of the program, celebrating The Exalted One, supposedly played a role behind the former WWE World Champion crossing over to All Elite Wrestling.

"We had a wrestler, Brodie Lee, who had passed away. They did this incredible tribute show. At that point, I was still with WWE. And the way that they did that show -- Brodie was my friend -- it touched something in me and in my mind," said Danielson.

Danielson went on to discuss how the Jacksonville-based promotion's special event for Brodie influenced his opinion of it, stating:

"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. 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. professional wrestling.' But that's one of the things that I thought of when I was in WWE. I was like, ‘Oh, the people behind this, who are running this thing, they care about the wrestlers. They care about the fans, too.'" [H/T - talkSPORT]

Bryan's full-time career ended at last year's WrestleDream, where he lost the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley.

AEW's Bryan Danielson on a potential in-ring return

Speculations are still ongoing regarding Bryan Danielson's future inside the squared circle. While he may no longer be involved in full-time active competition, fans continue to hope to see The Dragon lace up his boots one more time.

The former BCC member has been vocal about being satisfied with his decorated career, regardless of whether he is able to wrestle again. However, while speaking to The Daily Star recently, Bryan Danielson refused to completely rule out a potential comeback, stating:

“I don’t want to 100% say I’ve called it a day. I don’t want to put those restrictions on myself. But you know, it’s mostly calling it a day. The reality is that I had originally planned for it to be kind of the end, and was hoping that it wouldn’t end kind of the way it did. But it turned out to be a blessing in the sense of (...) the last six months from April until October were really physically hard for me," Danielson said. [H/T: The Daily Star]

It remains to be seen whether AEW fans will have the chance to see Danielson compete again anytime soon.