In a recent interview with NJPW, Bryan Danielson discussed his upcoming match with Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18.
Danielson defeated Okada at AEW x Forbidden Door II earlier this year, and the match saw The American Dragon suffer a broken arm as well as an orbital bone injury.
Danielson said, “I’m on the decline as a wrestler. And Okada stole over three months of my life. You stole three months of my last year as a full-time wrestler! And if we talk about “fighting spirit” and “strong style,” a good example is when I tapped out Okada with a broken arm. It was the first time Okada had tapped since 2015. I fought for 10 minutes with a broken arm until he got tapped out. However, I was unable to hold my son for two months after that. I still haven’t fully regained the strength in my right arm. The next time I wrestled against Okada, I broke my orbital bone in two places on Okada’s rainmaker. My vision is still blurry and I have to drive my kids to school. What do you think is my driving force? Sometimes the fighting spirit I feel in the ring is my driving force. But most of the driving force behind the fight is my children. Okada…I don’t know why it’s just me. Of course, it may not have been intentional. No, maybe he was humiliated by the tap, so he showed off his power by breaking my orbital. But my goal for this upcoming match is…I’m really looking forward to competing at “WRESTLE KINGDOM” in Tokyo Dome. But the goal of this fight is to legitimately break Okada’s right arm.”
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 will take place on January 4, 2024, at the Tokyo Dome, in Tokyo, Japan. The event will feature wrestlers from NJPW and its partner promotions, namely, AEW and Pro Wrestling NOAH.
