Bryan Danielson: “We’ll see if [Okada] is the next Antonio Inoki, or just another wannabe”

The American Dragon isn’t mincing his words before his epic showdown against The Rainmaker on January 4th

By: James Carlin

The biggest show in the new year, and the biggest show in Japanese wrestling is only a week away as New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold its eighteenth Wrestle Kingdom event at the Tokyo Dome.

At Dominion earlier this year, Bryan Danielson officially challenged Kazuchika Okada to a re-match of their AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door 2023 bout that took place in Canada, which Okada accepted.

With their second one-on-one encounter coming up soon, Bryan Danielson sat down for an interview with NJPW to discuss his thoughts going into the match.

“This is something I’ve been looking forward to. Wrestling at the Tokyo Dome, wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom. But my goal for this match is legitimately to break Okada’s right arm. I have endured and fought through so many injuries.

You can take away any weapon from me. You can take away my arm, you can take away my eye. And I’m still better than 99.9% of the wrestlers on Planet Earth.

Photo c/o All Elite Wrestling

Danielson continued to rip into the former IWGP World Heavyweight champion and current NEVER Openweight Six-Man champion, saying:

“Okada, I’m going to break your arm, and take away your best weapon. Let’s see if you’re even in the top 50%… We’re going to see if you’re the next Antonio Inoki, or if you’re just another wannabe.

Watch the full interview on NJPW’s YouTube, where The American Dragon discusses what strong style means to him, his training in the Inoki Dojo in the early 2000s, and how he vows to get his revenge on Kazuchika Okada: