Bryan Danielson’s Time in AEW Will End Without a World Title Run

Bryan Danielson is a generational talent but will he get the opportunity to carry the AEW World Championship?

Perhaps the most significant and memorable moment in the short history of All Elite Wrestling happened at the end of All Out in 2021.  Kenny Omega had just successfully defended the AEW World Title against Christan Cage when the promotion shocked the wrestling world with the arrival of Adam Cole.  But as we would find out just minutes later, that was just the first of two huge debuts.  Not long after, “Rise of the Valkyries” would resonate through Chicago’s NOW Arena, and Bryan Danielson also arrived in AEW.

This was a hugely significant show for AEW.  CM Punk had his first professional wrestling match in seven years as he and Darby Allin had a phenomenal contest.  The Lucha Bros and Young Bucks put on what some considered the match of the year in their steel cage war for the AEW World Tag Team Titles, and AEW had secured two bonafide stars in the professional wrestling world by signing Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson.  And in adding Cole and Danielson, it seemed that AEW was undoubtedly added two future AEW World Champions.

Fast forward to the present day and All Elite Wrestling seems to have shifted its mindset with its singles titles.  The promotion’s most prestigious singles titles are no longer around the waists of wrestlers that built their names outside of AEW but are instead held by the likes of Jade Cargill, MJF, Jamie Hayter, and Will Hobbs.

With Tony Khan’s philosophy seemingly shifting to focus on those that will be a huge part of AEW’s future, it begs the question of whether or not Bryan Danielson will ever wear the promotion’s top singles title.  And the answer should be no.

There is no need for an AEW World Title run for Bryan Danielson.

Professional wrestling fans can find a reason to argue about anything.  If you are ever in the mood to read some awful takes, professional wrestling social media is a great place to start.  But if there is one thing that professional wrestling fans can almost universally agree on it is that Bryan Danielson is one of the best wrestlers on the planet.

Danielson is as well-rounded as a perfect circle, bringing a unique balance of striking, grappling, submission holds, agility, strength, and psychology to every match.  If Danielson were a baseball player he would be considered a five-tool player, and those are incredibly rare.

So, if all the above statements are so widely accepted as true, then putting the AEW World Title on Danielson should be a no-brainer.  And in most cases, it would be.  But with AEW coming up on its four-year anniversary, there are a number of excellent reasons to shy away from a Bryan Danielson title run.

AEW needs to stay the course on developing its homegrown talent and elevating them up the card.

The word potential is almost universally accepted as a compliment.  For one to have potential means that they may someday be at the top of their profession or craft.  But at some point that description becomes dangerous.  For the moniker of potential to be attached to someone for a number of years will eventually be seen as a negative, as a failure to progress rapidly will sooner or later be labeled as a failure to live up to one’s potential.

On a recent episode of AEW Dynamite, the opening segment that centered around MJF’s re-Bar Mitzvah, we saw potential realized, and this segment is the one that should end any talk of a Bryan Danielson AEW World Title run.

The aforementioned episode was centered around the other ‘three pillars” of AEW, Jack Perry, Sammy Guevara, and Darby Allin interrupting MJF’s celebration to make their case as to why they should get an AEW Title shot.

The in-ring ability of these three young athletes has never been in question.  They have all been putting on exciting matches for years under the AEW banner.  But none of them had yet delivered on a live promo in a way that showed they could carry a program that a future pay-per-view could be built around.  Until MJF’s re-Bar Mitzvah.

All three of the young performers delivered spirited performances on the microphone while they stated their case for a future AEW Title match with MJF.  Allin was especially impressive in this spot as he spoke with emotion that we usually don’t see from the face-painted antihero.

Further proof of AEW’s future becoming its present on this night was the crowd’s reaction to this segment.  The crowd was hanging on every word that was said by all four of the participants in this segment, and we were also reminded, (for about three minutes until he insulted the crowd) of the fact that Guevara can be a very convincing babyface when Tay Melo isn’t attached to his side.

In short, Jack Perry, Sammy Guevara, and Darby Allin realized their potential on that night.  They proved that given time, they could banter on a microphone with the likes of MJF in a way that would keep the crowd engaged in the story that was being told.  It was a true coming of age for the three young performers, and in some sense a coming of age for the promotion as well.

While the re-Bar Mitzvah segment of AEW Dynamite may not go down as the most memorable segment in the program’s history, it may one day be considered the most important, as it signaled a deserved elevation up the card of three of its biggest young stars and made a Bryan Danielson title run, something that at one time seemed like a given, no longer necessary.