Bryan Danielson has admitted he was actually happy when he heard Cody Rhodes was leaving AEW – but it’s not what you think.

The American Dragon – known to WWE fans as Daniel Bryan before leaving in April 2021 and joining joined Tony Khan’s promotion five months later – has weighed in on the shock news Cody and his wife Brandi have left All Elite Wrestling despite been central figures since its launch in 2019.

He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘You have to understand my relationship to this story breaking is a little bit different because I’m not on the internet very much. So I woke up, had no idea, I texted Tony Khan something about some idea I had or whatever.

‘Completely oblivious. I’m driving to the airport and my wife [Brie Bella] texts me, and I usually don’t check it but it comes up on the thing and it said, “Did you hear about Cody and Brandi?”

‘And the first thing that went through my head is, “Oh no, did something happen? Did they get in a crash? Did something bad happen to their daughter?” I’m thinking, worst case scenario.’

Bryan called his wife right away to find out what happened, and he was glad to hear the Rhodes family were all fine.

‘I call her and I say, “What happened with Cody and Brandi?” And she said, “They’re leaving AEW”. And it was almost a relief,’ he laughed, before admitting he then eventually realised he should probably check on his boss.

He added: ‘I’ve still got an hour more until I get to the airport, I get there, and then it finally sinks in, because Tony never got back to my text, “Oh, I should probably text Tony and be like, is everything ok?” ‘

There are plenty of rumours about Cody’s next move with reports linking him to a sensational WWE return, and Bryan insisted all he wants is for the American Nightmare and his wife to be ‘happy’.

‘At the end of the day – I’ve known Cody for a long time – all I want is for him and Brandi to be happy,’ he smiled. ‘That’s kind of my relationship to the story. I saw it from a totally different perspective of, “Oh no did they die?” And then it turns out, “Thank God it’s just that.” ‘

Meanwhile, Bryan is very happy in AEW, getting to lock up with the likes of ‘Hangman’ Adam Page, Lee Moriarty and his Revolution opponent Jon Moxley.

He recently opened up about the spiritual connection to God he feels when he’s in the ring – something he’s experienced throughout his career journey through Ring of Honor, WWE and now AEW.

It’s funny because I don’t think you can probably do this in real sports,’ he laughed. ‘But there are moments while you’re doing what you’re doing to close your eyes and just say, “Thank you for this! God, who gets to do this, right?” ‘

Bryan accepts that not everyone gets into professional wrestling with the same deep love burning in their heart, but personally he still feels a sense of ‘gratitude’ and ‘wonder’ after more than two decades in the business.

‘I know for everybody it’s different. I think a lot of people in AEW dreamed of being wrestlers since they were a kid, I know different people come into wrestling for different things,’ he said.

‘But I’ve been wrestling for 22 years now, and I still really, truly, deeply love it. There’s also this gratitude and this sense of wonder that, “Here I am in this moment and how does this even happen?”

‘The beautiful thing about wrestling is that you can, in the middle of it – knowing that your opponents not going to waffle you in the back – just close your eyes and feel it. And be like, “God, thank you! Who deserves this?” ‘

Beaming, he added: ‘Certainly not me!’

AEW Revolution airs Sunday, March 6 at 1am on Fite TV.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

Source: Read Full Article