What's Next for Bryan Danielson After His AEW Grand Slam Match With Kenny Omega?

By Connor Casey

Bryan Danielson made his in-ring debut for All Elite Wrestling last week in what many are calling a Match of the Year contender. The former WWE Champion opened the AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam event with a brutal match against Kenny Omega that ended in a 30-minute time limit draw. Omega, channeling Apollo Creed from Rocky, then claimed on social media that there wouldn't be a rematch between the two. But based on the backstage promo Danielson cut on this week's AEW Dark: Elevation, a rematch is bound to happen in the future. 

"Goddamn, I feel alive," Byran said. "It's hard, right? You go out there, and I wanted to face the best guy here. I didn't just want to come in and start slow, I wanted to come in hot. I felt like I did that. I wish I would have won. But even when you don't win, god what a great thing professional wrestling is. It's magic, right when my music hit and I wasn't even out there, it felt like magic. I'm so grateful for the experiences I've had in wrestling, but that was pretty much unlike anything I've ever done. 

"I was asking (Kenny), I said, 'Hey let's do one more.' He said he didn't want another one. And I get it, not everbody loves the brutality the way that I do," he added. "But I get how AEW works, there's a ranking system, and there's a ton of guys here that I'd love to kick their heads in for. I'm going to go through all of them, and no matter how many guys it takes, my next goal is to go for that AEW Championship."

With an 0-0-1 record, Danielson obviously is nowhere close to AEW's rankings in the singles division. That list currently consists of Orange Cassidy, Powerhouse Hobbs, Jon Moxley, Christian Cage and Jungle Boy.

Danielson confirmed in an interview with WFAN prior to Grand Slam that he only plans on wrestling full time for another three years. He described this run as "the climax" of his career. 

"I see these next three years as my last three years as a full-time wrestler," Danielson said. "I don't want to see it as, 'Okay, he's tapering off.' This is the climax of my career. This is the climax of my career, these next three years. It all starts tomorrow."

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