Bryan Danielson will win the 2024 Owen Hart Cup

The 2024 Owen Hart Cup is underway. PAC advanced with a big victory over Claudio Castagnoli. The rest of the men’s bracket is fleshed out, with a shot at the AEW World Championship in play. Looking at the field there’s one name that stands out as the favorite to pick up the victory. That is Bryan Danielson, and this will be the year that he adds the cup to his trophy list.

Appreciate Bryan Danielson while you can. He’s talked openly about the end of his run, and when he hangs it up that will be it for perhaps the Greatest Of All Time. Danielson deserves every bit of the accolades he’s earned at each step of his career. His tenure in AEW has been the feather in the cap of what is already a Hall of Fame run. Winning the Owen Hart Tournament goes a long way in telling the story of his final few months as a full-time performer.

Swerve Strickland versus Bryan Danielson at AEW All-In would be a massive match. It’s the type of match that is necessary for many to consider Strickland’s run a “success.” These two men could put on an instant classic, worthy of awards when 2024 ends. But even beyond that, it would be another moment in which Danielson fails to obtain the title. It’s one of the few titles that remain just outside his reach. Will he win that one before he retires? Probably not, but that’s the story to be told.

To get there, he’ll have to win the tournament. Looking at the field, that’s a very possible outcome. He’s facing Shingo Takagi at Forbidden Door III. This is a dream match that should set the world on fire when they lock up, but it shouldn’t be expected that a NJPW performer will go far in this tournament. Looking at the rest of the draw, Danielson is the easy pick as the favorite to take everything home, with PAC as a distant second.

Some may try to complain that AEW doesn’t tell effective stories in professional wrestling. That isn’t the truth, and this developing story with Bryan Danielson will be yet another example of the opposite. As his career winds down, he’ll compete for the AEW World Championship once again. This time it will be against Swerve Strickland and to get there he’ll defeat the field in the 2024 Owen Hart Cup Tournament.