It Could Be Said #31 Bryan Danielson Should've Defeated Kenny Omega
Will looks back on an alternative history where Bryan Danielson wins the AEW Title at Grand Slam 2021
In a break from normal It Could Be Said programming, we give you a despatch from a parallel world where Bryan Danielson won the AEW World Title from Kenny Omega. It’s just for fun but I think it illustrates just how much better AEW television would be if Danielson had have won at Grand Slam.
This year’s San Diego Comic Con saw the once and absent champion awkwardly interact as they spoke to the assembled crowd. Both CM Punk and the man he had defeated for that title, have been absent from the squared circle since the week of Double or Nothing. But whereas Punk is still rehabbing his foot, the former AEW Champion Bryan Danielson announced he would return to competition against Daniel Garcia this Wednesday on Dynamite.
His stepfather-in-law may have been abruptly removed from his position in WWE Talent Relations due to the ongoing scandal that has engulfed that company, but the past two months have been an unusually quiet time for the American Dragon. The rapturous response his arrival in AEW received at ALL OUT was an early sign as to how fans would respond to Tony Khan’s bold decision to put the title on him just two weeks later. Just as Emma Raducanu shockingly won her first major at Arthur Ashe, Bryan Danielson ended Kenny Omega’s nine-month championship reign in his first match for the promotion. The near-thirty minute classic looked to be heading to a draw when Danielson failed to secure victory with the Lebell Lock, but after the separation he managed to stun Omega with a headbutt, so creating space for him to connect with his patterned flying knee. With the champion knocked down, he rushed up to the top to hit yet another diving knee drop, which this time was enough to win the title.
Many fans assumed the shock title switch was setting the stage for a rematch at the next pay per view, Full Gear. Instead, Kenny Omega would headline that show in a non-title street fight against the returning Hangman Page, losing to the irate Cowboy in less than twenty minutes. Upon his return, Page would use the build to make clear that his issue with Omega was never about the title but rather Omega’s lack of respect for him or his friends in the Dark Order.
AEW had planned that the pay per view main event would have been Bryan Danielson defending his newly won title against Jon Moxley, but the latter’s need to enter rehab upended those plans. Instead, Danielson faced PAC in the semi-main event, in a thrilling catch-as-catch-can bout that rivalled the Grand Slam title match in Match of the Year balloting. This was in fact Danielson’s second defence of the title, with the American Dragon having defeated the legendary Minoru Suzuki to retain the title in mid-October.
Hangman Page would be the third man to challenge him, celebrating Dynamite coming from his hometown to challenge the champion for a match at Winter is Coming. Danielson accepted with a knowing simile on his face, and promised to bring the best wrestler out of Hangman that there is, during their match. After a gruelling one-hour epic, only the one-hour time limit prevented Hangman from winning the title with a Buckshot Lariat. Bryan Danielson would volunteer to defend the title again at Battle of the Belts, so he could prove to Hangman that he was the better man. This time the champion manages to win conclusively, taking the action to his larger foe, and systematically breaking him down. But the challenger would earn the Champion’s respect, with Danielson shaking his hand after the match. Hangman would quickly rebound by being the man to defeat Cody Rhodes for the TNT Title, before the American Nightmare left for WWE.
Danielson would defend the world title on television the following month, when he defeated the man who debuted just minutes before him at ALL OUT. Danielson and Adam Cole would have a brutal street fight on Rampage, but one that Danielson won clearly. During this rivalry he had repeatedly called upon Jon Moxley to assist him, but these offers of friendship and alliance were rebuffed by the returning former champion. Instead Moxley demanded his delayed match against Danielson, which finally happened at Revolution. Danielson would retain despite Moxley’s desperate attempts to counter his triangle choke. When Moxley regained consciousness, he tried to restart the fight, which only provoked both men’s erstwhile mentor William Regal to come to ringside and order them to form an alliance.
Soon after, the newly dubbed Blackpool Combat Club would face FTR for the Ring of Honor Tag Team Titles, with Wheeler Yuta trying to help his new teammates win the match from the outside. He would however be blocked from doing so by CM Punk rushing to the assistance of his backstage friends, with the resulting fracas, sufficiently distracting Moxley for him to be rolled up by Dax. As Yuta and Moxley brawled with FTR to the back, Punk and Danielson locked eyes on each other, renewing a rivalry that had arguably never been allowed to reach full boil in either ROH or WWE. Danielson told Punk that if he wanted to get in his business then he could face him for the title at Double or Nothing, a challenge Punk immediately accepted.
The build between the two men was electric with both men throwing barbs at each other in highly rated in-ring promos, sitdown interviews, and pretaped segments. Their match was arguably the biggest any promotion had primarily promoted on pay per view since Danielson’s ran the table at Wrestlemania 30. Only this time he would lose, as CM Punk trapped him a GTS for the pinfall. A crestfallen Danielson kissed goodbye to the title, and shook his conqueror’s hand.
But Danielson could look back with pride on his title reign. He won the title in a near perfect match, and two of his three pay per view defences were instant classics. He also had a series of acclaimed defences on television. There was no question that this had been the most critically acclaimed title reign in the promotion’s history, and the most commercially successful too thanks to the former Daniel Bryan’s crossover appeal.
The only sour note was he suffered a concussion during the match which meant he couldn’t pick up things immediately as the landscaped changed. But we’re sure he will have lots to say and do as he re-enters a promotion where not just Jon Moxley but also his new Blackpool Combat Club team-member Claudio Castagnoli both hold world titles.
And it all begins again, when he faces Daniel Garcia, this Wednesday on AEW Dynamite.