Tony Khan reportedly had to talk Bryan Danielson into winning the AEW World Championship.
Danielson defeated Swerve Strickland for the belt in the main event of AEW All In at Wembley Stadium. He held it for just 48 days before being defeated by Jon Moxley at AEW WrestleDream in the Tacoma Dome.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Danielson didn’t want to win the belt at all, but Tony Khan felt it would make for the best possible moment to close out AEW’s biggest show of the year.
“Danielson did not want to win the title but Khan talked him into it feeling that his winning would be the best possible moment for the end of the biggest show of the year” – Dave Meltzer
Meltzer also noted that Moxley and the BCC turning heel leading up to WrestleDream was Danielson’s idea. The title going from Swerve to Danielson to Moxley was planned months ago, but only a few were made aware of the story’s direction.
“The Swerve Strickland to Danielson and then to Moxley story was planned prior to Moxley winning the IWGP title, but apparently the only people who were supposed to know were Tony Khan, Moxley, Danielson and Allin,” Meltzer continued.
While Danielson had said on AEW programming and in interviews leading up to WrestleDream that he needs to have neck surgery, that may not actually be the case. In last week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer noted that Danielson will attempt to rehab his neck through stem cell treatment first before deciding if surgery is needed.
“The hope is that he won’t need surgery and can heal up strong enough with stem cell treatment therapy. But if not, he’ll have to undergo surgery. If or when he can return to the ring depends on how well all of this goes,” Meltzer wrote.”