Bryan Danielson cherishes the memory of wrestling John Cena at SummerSlam but isn’t about to hit up the megastar’s phone anytime soon.
Then wrestling as Daniel Bryan in WWE, the veteran headlined the 2013 edition of the summer spectacular against the grappler turned Hollywood sensation.
Having effectively been handpicked by Cena as his opponent, Bryan overcame the odds just to make it to the event – then achieved his dream by winning his first WWE Championship by claiming victory in a bout in which Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque served as special guest referee.
In typical WWE fashion, the fairytale ending wasn’t allowed to stand for long, as Randy Orton opted to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase at Bryan’s expense.
Worse followed when Triple H then turned on the newly crowned champ to aid Orton in coming champion within a matter of seconds.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with talkSPORT’s Will Gavin to promote AEW’s All In at London’s Wembley Stadium later this month, Danielson appeared to accept that as part and parcel of featuring in WWE.
He did, however, say it ranks as one of the standout moments in his career, admitting: “These are just strange moments in my life that don’t seem real.
“I wrestled John Cena at SummerSlam, in the main event, and beat him. What? That happened?!
“Wrestling John is always interesting because the fans always react so vociferously with him, both positive and negative.
“There’s people who love him and there’s people that hate him, and the way they react back and forth.
“To that point, that was my favourite match that I’d had in WWE. When I got to that, after I’d had it… I’d beaten John Cena, hooray for me!
“It was about two minutes before I got pedigreed and then beaten for the title.
“But it was a really cool moment in my career.”
Cena made global headlines at WWE’s Money in the Bank last month, confirming he’ll be calling it quits as a pro wrestler during 2025.
The legend, who’ll feature for the company across the calendar year before hanging up his boots, will undoubtedly have been inundated with messages once that major news broke.
It seems unlikely the Peacemaker star found a note from Danielson in amongst the well wishes, though.
The pair were once set to be brothers-in-law, with Cena calling off his engagement to Nikki Garcia [fka Bella] following a six-year relationship in 2018, while Danielson is married and has two children with the latter’s twin-sister Brie.
The two men are also now in rival wrestling promotions, however, Danielson revealed neither is the reason why he hasn’t been in touch.
The 43-year-old went on to say: “I haven’t spoken to him, but you have to understand, I hate phones.
“I have friends, but then I’m really bad at texting. I could go to my phone right now and I have 3,800 plus unread text messages.
“People get anxiety when they see how many unread text messages, I have… but when I’m with people, I like to be with people.
“All of a sudden I might have 17 text messages, 30 text messages and that feels overwhelming to me, and what do I do when I get overwhelmed? I just turn it off!
#AEW World Championship: TITLE vs. CAREER!
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 1, 2024
Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Bryan Danielson@BryanDanielson has put his CAREER on the line when he challenges #AEW World Champ @swerveconfident for the TITLE at #AEWAllIn@WembleyStadium on Sunday, August 25th!https://t.co/r5aFwvDsAUpic.twitter.com/ONNPCj26Qs
“I’m really bad at communicating long distances with people and have some very close friends that I probably haven’t talked to or text for six months.”
Bryan Danielson challenges AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland at Wembley Stadium in the main event of All In 2024.
The decorated superstar has admitted he’s focusing heavily on savouring every moment from his own in-ring career which is also winding down – he’ll retire should he fail to emerge from the UK victorious.
AEW: All In London at Wembley Stadium featuring Bryan Danielson, Mercedes Mone, MJF, Will Osprey and more takes place on Sunday, 25 August and tickets remain on sale.