Bryan Danielson Preparing for His Next Match By Reading

“If I weren’t a wrestler, I would spend my life writing short stories.”

With his full-time career winding down, Bryan Danielson is willing to share some of his secrets.

A key part of his success, Danielson explained, is through expanding his mind through reading.

“That translates to everything I do, especially wrestling,” said Danielson. “It’s an activity I love to do.”

Danielson is in the finals of the Owen Hart Cup Tournament on Dynamite this Wednesday, wrestling “Hangman” Adam Page for the right to challenge Swerve Strickland for the AEW world title at All In next month at Wembley Stadium.

Bryan Danielson defeated Pac last week on Dynamite to advance to the finals of the Owen Hart Cup Tournament / AEW

This marks the fourth singles match between Danielson and Page. Their first, which took place in December of 2021, was a 60-minute draw. The following month, Page won the rematch–and then Danielson evened the score by defeating Page in the fall of 2022, which was an opening round bout in the AEW Grand Slam Tournament of Champions.

All of their singles matches–each of which would have been worthy of a spot on pay-per-view–have been on Dynamite, which highlights the promotion’s commitment to presenting top-tier professional wrestling. That resonates with Danielson, whose rivalry with Page is renewed this week on TBS.

In addition to his work in the gym, Danielson is preparing for the match by reading and writing.

“If I weren’t a wrestler, I would spend my life writing short stories,” said Danielson. “But I couldn’t do it nearly as well as Ted Chiang.”

Chiang is a skilled author, and Danielson is currently reading a book of his short stories.

“I’m constantly reading different poetry,” said Danielson. “Right now, I’m reading Ted Chiang’s book of short stories called Exhalation by Ted Chiang, which is incredibly interesting. And I’m usually reading more than one book at a time.

“I’m also reading The Anxious Generation. It’s very present for me right now, and it’s about the results of kids using smartphones. I was expecting it to take a more alarmist approach, and it is a little alarmist, but I find it to be very balanced.”

The Blackpool Combat Club has its own BCC book club / AEW

Three weeks ago, Danielson wrestled in an eight-man tag with the Blackpool Combat Club’s Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta against Rocky Romero, Lio Rush, Mikey Nicholls, and Shane Haste. The friendship between Danielson and Romero dates back decades, and their time together in New Japan Pro-Wrestling made Danielson think of a book: The World According to Garp, John Irving’s famous novel from 1978.

“I love that book,” said Danielson. “I read it in one day at the New Japan Dojo in 2003. We had done a Tokyo Dome show in early May, and Rocky and I were staying for the Super Juniors tournament. There was only something like 10 days in between, so they had us train at the dojo. We had a day off at the dojo, but I didn’t want to spend any money. I went for a walk and stayed the rest of the day in my room reading World According to Garp, and it was a long book–but I couldn’t put it down.”

Danielson also touched on the BCC book club, noting that extenuating circumstances led to a hiatus for the group’s reading. With everyone back in AEW, Danielson is optimistic that there will be plenty of summer reading for the BCC.

“We haven’t settled on a book in a while,” said Danielson. “We will. A lot happened–Wheeler was hurt, Jon was in Japan. But it will come back soon.”