Bryan Danielson believes John Cena’s longevity places him within the dialog as one of many best wrestlers of all time.
The 17-time world champion, who scooped his record-breaking title at WrestleMania 41 final month, is on a farewell tour from WWE having introduced his intention to retire on the finish of the 12 months.
At Elimination Chamber in March, he turned heel for the primary time in twenty years, providing a brand new dynamic to the ultimate few months of his legendary profession.
Danielson, who himself impressed as a nasty man after making a shock flip in 2018, mentioned the place Cena sits amid the giants of the skilled wrestling business.
“It is onerous for me to gauge,” the AEW star admitted, throughout an unique interview with talkSPORT.com.
“However I must say that whenever you take a look at John Cena’s profession, you would need to say he is one of many best wrestlers of all time.
“And positively from a drawing standpoint, throughout a sure interval, he was the largest star in wrestling.
“From the time that I began with WWE, till just a little bit earlier than I left, he was the largest star there. And that is a future.
“That is a future to be a high man.”
Danielson, who final week pinpointed the AEW second that paved approach for WWE exit, went on to match Cena’s run because the ‘high man’ to that of Hulk Hogan.
Explaining why the 17-time champion has the sting, he stated: “Hulk Hogan, you recognize, as compared from an American wrestling standpoint, he was solely the highest star within the WWF for about seven years, eight years.
“John Cena was a high star from, I need to say like 2005, for no less than ten, 15 years. He is had an unimaginable profession.
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“I hope that is his final 12 months, like what he stated. However you recognize, us wrestlers, we’re fairly difficult with this retirement factor.
“I simply hope he will get all the things he needs out of this final 12 months of his profession.”
Cena and Danielson, in fact, have historical past within the ring.
Again in 2013, when the latter was wrestling as Daniel Bryan, the pair clashed for the WWE Championship in the principle occasion of SummerSlam.
It is a match that Danielson remembers effectively, even when it did not finish the best way he wished, with Randy Orton cashing in his Cash within the Financial institution contract to steal the title away.
“I actually loved the match, I’ve all the time loved John Cena as an individual,” he stated.
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“Largely what I keep in mind is that I beat John Cena, after which I bought Pedigreed by Triple H, and Randy Orton got here out and beat me.
“Then it is like, ‘OK, effectively, that occurred. It was a factor.’”
Danielson, who just lately stepped again from full-time in-ring competitors, additional mirrored on his previous matches and defined how rivalries are constructed in another way in WWE and AEW.
“Totally different locations deal with issues in another way,” he defined.
“AEW handles issues in another way to WWE, and the best way that rivalries are structured in AEW could be very completely different from the best way rivalries have been structured in WWE.
“In WWE, you’d wrestle the identical man ten zillion instances. I might say my greatest rival in AEW, or one of many guys who I had probably the most variety of matches with is, ‘Hangman’ Adam Web page.
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“I feel we wrestled 5 instances.
“After which I wrestled Jon Moxley, gosh, I need to say thrice.
“Take into consideration that comparability, I used to be there for 3 plus years as an energetic wrestler.
“To say these are the 2 guys who I wrestled probably the most, 5 instances and thrice, that is not rather a lot.”