Death Riders member breaks character with honest take on AEW star Bryan Danielson

A budding AEW star solidified his allegiance to The Death Riders by turning on Bryan Danielson last year. However, the talent in question, Wheeler Yuta, seemingly broke character recently to share his thoughts on The American Dragon.

It has been clear for some time that All Elite Wrestling considers Yuta a promising prospect, judging by his consistent presence on All Elite television. After rolling with Best Friends in the early stage of his career, the Philadelphia native ended up ditching Orange Cassidy and company in favor of the fearsome Blackpool Combat Club. Yuta is now one of Jon Moxley's soldiers, representing the will of the AEW World Champion as a member of The Death Riders.

The 28-year-old star, while speaking with Aaron Machbitz recently, discussed having had the opportunity of working alongside some of the industry's most respected performers and veterans on TV over the past few years.

"I've been wrestling on TV for the past, I guess three, almost four years now, and like it's a fever dream man, it's crazy. When I look at all these guys they've kind of paired me with, it's crazy to think about."

Yuta then opened up on his admiration for Bryan Danielson and for the latter's work throughout his run in the indies, in ROH, and in WWE. He shared similar sentiments regarding former BCC manager William Regal, and his current mentors, Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli.

"Like I always looked up to Bryan Danielson, like I loved his stuff when he was on the independents, when he was in Ring of Honor, even like in WWE, I loved all that. It was awesome to watch him wrestling, and he was one of the guys that I wanted to emulate and be like. You think of [Jon] Moxley, Claudio [Castagnoli], [William] Regal, these are all guys that I really looked up to," said Yuta. [H/T - WrestlingInc.]

Despite his real-life reverence, Wheeler betrayed Danielson in storyline after the latter had been dethroned for the AEW World Title by Mox at WrestleDream 2024, suffocating him with a plastic bag before his neck was destroyed by The Swiss Cyborg.

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AEW's Wheeler Yuta was all praise for a fellow Death Riders member

During the same interview, Wheeler Yuta made the case for his Death Riders stable-mate PAC being one of the greatest ever in the squared circle. Speaking of his fellow AEW World Trios Champion, the up-and-comer stated:

"I don't think people give him that level of credit and they should. I think people normally give him, 'Yeah, he's very good,' but they don't give him, 'No, he's one of the best. He might be one of the best ever.' Just watching him from the apron is really fun to see up close. He is phenomenal," said Yuta. [H/T - Fightful]

Unfortunately, The Man that Gravity Forgot was brutally grounded by Adam Copeland with a conchairto this past Saturday on AEW Collision, advancing his mission to take out The Death Riders individually enroute to Revolution 2025.