Bryan Danielson Vows to Break Kazuchika Okada Prior to Wrestle Kingdom 18 Bout

Bryan Danielson is unquestionably one of the most established names in the world of professional wrestling right now. He is set to compete at Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4th, 2024 against Kazuchika Okada and now he sent a message to Okada ahead of their clash.

AEW and NJPW collaborated to schedule Okada vs. Danielson for last year’s Forbidden Door event. The highly anticipated match lived up to expectations, providing a spectacular finale to the event. In a surprising twist, Okada submitted to Danielson, marking the first time in eight years that Okada had tapped out. However, Bryan Danielson broke his arm and his injury was worse than initially thought.

If you need a reminder, Bryan Danielson challenged Kazuchika Okada to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 18 during the company’s Power Struggle event in Osaka back in November, which was shown in video.

During the Wrestle Kingdom 18 press conference, Bryan Danielson reiterated the fact that he will be trying to break Kazuchika Okada’s arm as he wants to check if he can destroy Okada for good.

”First off, I want to say how grateful I am to be in Japan. It’s been 20 years since my first tour of NJPW. I wanted to be a star in NJPW more than anything, and now I get to wrestle Okada in the Tokyo Dome for NJPW.

Now to the match with Okada. You may or may not know, but we’ve wrestled before. It was a couple of months ago, and he broke my arm. I wrestled ten more minutes and then I made him tap out.

Now when you’re grappling, why do you tap out? You tap to avoid breaking a bone. To avoid permanent injury. Okada tapped to avoid something I had already.

That led to me not being able to carry my son, it led to a tag match where he broke my orbital bone, led me to not being able to drive my kids to school and now to here. So am I angry, yes. Am I hungry for revenge, yes. But am I grateful for these injuries? Yes.

Every injury I’ve had has made me a better wrestler. Every time I’ve come back i was better. He broke my arm, I came back better. Fractured my orbital I came back better. Injuries cause you to get better.

I’ve said I was going to break Okada’s arm for two reasons. I want revenge. But I also want to see if breaking his arm will break him, or make him better. And after I break his arm, I’ll kick his f**king head in.”

NJPW even launched Bryan Danielson’s first-ever merchandise ahead of his Wrestle Kingdom 18 encounter with Kazuchika Okada. It remains to be seen whether Bryan Danielson will be able to defeat The Rainmaker for the second time in a row.

As a reminder, Ringside News will be providing live play-by-play coverage of the event over in our Wrestle Kingdom hub. Coverage of the event will kick off at 1:30AM ET. Keep checking back for any late breaking news, rumors and spoilers heading into the show.

What’s your view on what Bryan Danielson had to say? Do you think he will defeat Kazuchika Okada again? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!