Bryan Danielson looks ahead at his return to NJPW.
On January 4, Bryan Danielson will face Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18. This will serve as a rematch of their previous clash at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Wrestle Kingdom 18 will also mark Danielson’s first official NJPW match in nearly 20 years. From 2002 – 2004, Danielson wrestled over 100 matches for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. During this time, Danielson had a run as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion alongside Christopher Daniels (fka Curry Man). Danielson’s last non-cross-promotional NJPW match took place in November 2004 at NJPW Battle Final. There, he and James Gibson (aka Jamie Noble) lost to Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru Tanaka.
During a recent interview with NJPW, Danielson was asked how he feels about his upcoming return to NJPW.
“I’m really excited,” Danielson said. “New Japan, when I started wrestling, that’s where I always wanted to be. Like when I envisioned myself as a professional wrestler, I didn’t envision myself being a big star in the United States. What I really wanted to do was be a big star in Japan. The idea of being able to go wrestle in Japan with the best wrestlers in the world in a wrestling style that I like most, that was really appealing to me.”
“Then I don’t know what happened. I was at training a the Inoki Dojo, and I was going regularly on tours. I went on like eight tours in 2004 for New Japan, and me and Curry Man had won the IWGP Junior [Tag Team] Championships, and then all of a sudden I just stopped getting booked. It was really frustrating, and for a long time, I was like, ‘What do I gotta do to get back to New Japan?’ Then here we are, almost 20 years later. I’m going to Wrestle Kingdom in the Tokyo Dome.”
More must-reads: