Bryan Danielson is once again injured just two months after returning to the ring from a broken arm. The American Dragon last competed on the October 25th edition of AEW Dynamite where he and Claudio Castagnoli took on Orange Cassidy and Kazuchika Okada. Toward the end of the match, Danielson took an Orange Punch and Rainmaker from Cassidy and Okada respectively which appeared to injure him and was later revealed to be a broken orbital bone.
However, it has since been reported that the injury actually took place a few days earlier on AEW Collision during Danielson’s match with Andrade El Idolo, though reports differ on which spot caused the orbital bone break. Fightful Select reports that the injury occurred during the opening collar and elbow tie-up when a stray forearm or elbow strike from Andrade legitimately hit Danielson, a fact which Bryan himself is said to have told several backstage.
Meanwhile, Dave Meltzer reports in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the injury instead occurred in the closing moments of the match. Meltzer wrote that around a minute before the match ended, Andrade went for a spinning elbow and the two men’s heads accidentally collided. Andrade’s forehead is said to have struck Danielson near one of his eyes, resulting in the orbital bone break.
Thankfully, however, it does not seem like Danielson will be out of action for long. Tony Schiavone noted earlier this week that the 42-year-old will return “later this year” with Fightful adding to their report that the behind-the-scenes hope is his absence won’t be long.
Meltzer added further insight into the situation, noting that a top talent within the promotion told him that the injury was “deflating” given how valuable Danielson is to the company. They added it was well-known backstage that the injury occurred during the Andrade match but they all hoped it wasn’t anything serious.