Daniel Bryan 'Realistically' Wants to Wrestle Until 70, Lists Dream Opponents

WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan returned to the ring this year after missing three years due to injury, and he has no plans on retiring from wrestling any time soon.

According to ESPN.com's Arash Markazi, the 37-year-old Bryan is hopeful he has another 30-plus years left in him:

"Realistically, I want to wrestle until I'm 70. That's a goal to people that sounds insane, but there's a MMA trainer, Firas Zahabi, he trains Georges St-Pierre and he was on Joe Rogan's podcast and I love what he said because this is how I envision my life. He said, 'I want to be grappling and doing jiu-jitsu the day before I die.' He wants to live to be 90 years old, but he loves doing this so much he wants to physically be capable of doing it until the day before he dies because it brings him joy and that's how I feel about wrestling.

For me, my goal is to enjoy this moment that I have in the WWE spotlight because that doesn't last forever. That really has taken hold since I was forced to retire. You have to appreciate every moment of this, but I also have to transition my style in a way that I could still be wrestling when I'm 70 years old. I want to transition my style slowly to something that's a little bit easier on my body."

As crazy as it sounds, wrestling until 70 is something that has been done before.

The legendary Lou Thesz is the primary example of that, as he wrestled his last match in 1990 at the age of 74 against Masahiro Chono, meaning he wrestled at least one match in seven different decades.

Also, WWE Hall of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler still wrestles occasionally at the age of 68, as does 74-year-old Terry Funk.

Much of the risk-taking in Bryan's current offensive arsenal would have to go in order to make that possible, but he is a mat technician capable of changing his style.

During his absence from the ring due to head injuries, Bryan revealed on an episode of Total Bellas that he had been working on a unique grappling style in case he ever had the chance to face Brock Lesnar.

If Bryan can expand upon that and make it a regular part of his matches, then he may have the ability to go until he's 70 provided he can avoid further major injuries moving forward.

Another key to that will be reducing his workload, which is something Bryan told Markazi that he wants to happen.

In addition to that lofty goal, Bryan has a lengthy bucket list of dream opponents, including AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Andrade "Cien" Almas, NXT stars Johnny Gargano and Roderick Strong and even WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg.

On Sunday at SummerSlam, Bryan will look to settle the score with his longest-running rival, The Miz.

One of the positives that came from Bryan's in-ring layoff was the fact that WWE brought in a ton of new talent during that time.

Bryan mentioned some of them as dream opponents, meaning it won't be difficult to keep him fresh and interesting over a long period of time.

While Bryan's WWE contract is reportedly set to expire soon, he told Sam Roberts on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast (h/t Corey Jacobs of WrestlingNews.co) this week that there is a "90-plus percent" chance that he will re-sign with the company.

If that holds true, there seems to be a good chance that Bryan will eventually tussle with the likes of Styles, Nakamura, Almas, Gargano and Strong, while the Goldberg scenario will depend on whether he wants to come back for additional matches.

Bryan has already had a storybook career deserving of a Hall of Fame nod, but his comments suggest there are many more chapters to come.

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