Bryan Danielson made quite the statement on AEW Dynamite this week. The former WWE Champion compared himself to the legendary Bret Hart, even claiming to have surpassed the Canadian.
It has been over two decades since Bret Hart hung up his boots (beside a brief “return” to WWE in 2010). Over the years since, multiple wrestlers have sung his praises, from both AEW and WWE.
Most notably, FTR have talked about the immense skill of Bret Hart, claiming him to be the best wrestler of all time. CM Punk has also stated his love for The Hitman, paying tribute to him in his debut match at All Out 2021.
He is considered by many to be the best pro-wrestler of all time, having held both the WWE and WCW Championship multiple times in his incredible career.
However, Bryan Danielson does not think Bret Hart is the best wrestler of all time. In fact, he claimed this week on AEW Dynamite that he was better than Bret Hart ever was, whilst also calling out The Elite.
Bryan Danielson on Bret Hart
Bryan Danielson made a thinly-veiled reference to Bret Hart on the May 3rd, 2023 episode of AEW Dynamite, claiming that he is better than Bret Hart “ever was”.
He did not refer to The Hitman by name. Instead, he mentioned a “great wrestler” who claimed to be “the best there is, best there was, and best there ever will be”.
The crowd picked up on the hint immediately, before Danielson cut him down to size, causing the former WWE Champion “egotistical”.
He then claimed he was better than Hart ever was, and wanted to build up even better wrestlers to replace him in the future.
In his AEW Dynamite promo about Bret Hart, Bryan Danielson said;
There was a great wrestler who used to say “I’m the best there is, best there was, and best there ever will be”.
I always thought, “How egotistical that don’t think there will be anyone in the future better than you”!
Well, here’s the thing. I am better than that legend [Bret Hart] ever was. I am better than any wrestler who has ever come before me. I am the best wrestler in the world today!
If I’m not, it’s one of these men [the Blackpool Combat Club].
There is one thing I know for 100% fact. There will be wrestlers in the future better than me, because of what we built
You can watch Bryan Danielson’s full speech down below.
Bret Hart Would Have Wrestled Bryan Danielson If He Didn’t Retire
It appears that Bret Hart also thinks that Bryan Danielson is great, although it’s unknown if he thinks he has been surpassed quite yet.
In fact, he claimed he would have loved to have wrestled against The American Dragon, had his career not been ended by a kick to the head by Bill Goldberg in WCW.
Speaking during a K&S WrestleFest signing, the former WWE Champion listed a number of stars he would have loved to wrestle, had he not suffered career-ending concussions.
Bret Hart mentioned Daniel Bryan (Danielson’s WWE name), as well as stars like CM Punk and Roman Reigns, as people he would have wanted to wrestle if he was healthy.
If I had no issues with my concussion and stuff. If I never had a stroke, maybe. Let’s just say I was healthy, at my age, I’d go back. I would have taken it pretty seriously.
I would have wrestled a lot more over the last ten years if I hadn’t been hurt. All of the dream matches that everyone talks about, I would have loved to done all of them. Daniel Bryan [Bryan Danielson], CM Punk, Roman Reigns, John Cena, Randy Orton,”
While they never went one-on-one together, Bret Hart did actually wrestle alongside Daniel Bryan, just once in the WWE.
The Canadian tagged with The American Dragon at Summerslam 2010, as part of the Team WWE vs Team Nexus main event match at the event.