Ricky Starks and Bryan Danielson competed in a brutal Strap Match at AEW’s All Out pay-per-view this past weekend, and days later Starks still has massive bruises from his encounter with “The American Dragon.” Starks was (reportedly) supposed to be in the All Out main event against CM Punk for the “Real” AEW World Championship, but plans had to change after AEW announced it was firing Punk. Danielson made his surprise return from injury at AEW Collision on Saturday night and accepted Starks’ challenge for the match.
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“The American Dragon” had been out of action since he suffered a broken arm against Kazuchika Okaka at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view back in June. He admitted in the post-show press conference that Starks “carried” him through his return match.
“I had an excellent opponent. Every time people see Ricky Starks, every time Ricky Starks gets an opportunity, he knocks it out of the park. I will be the first one to say, this is outside of our stories and what we do, he carried me through that match. I’m good at certain things. I’m good at a decent amount of things and I’m confident in saying that. I can fire up, I can do all these things, but we was the one who carried me through that match,” Danielson said (h/t Fightful).
Bryan Danielson Addresses CM Punk’s Firing
Elsewhere in the press conference, Danielson was asked about AEW moving on from CM Punk. Danielson made his AEW debut at All Out 2021, the same show where Punk had his in-ring debut for the company.
“There’s things that are behind us, but we’re moving forward and we’re moving forward in a way that’s exciting. AEW is a product to be excited about right now. And I think that showed on Sunday (All In), that showed tonight (All Out), that showed on Dynamite and Collision,” Danielson said.
AEW All Out 2023 Results
- (Zero Hour) Adam “Hangman Page Wins the Over Budget Battle Royale
- (Zero Hour) Hikaru Shida, Willow Nightingale & Skye Blue def. Athena, Mercedes Martinez & Diamanteย
- (Zero Hour)ย AEW World Trios Championships:ย The Acclaimed def. Jeff Jarrett, Satnam Singh & Jay Lethal
- ROH World Tag Team Championships:ย MJF & Adam Cole def. The Dark Order
- ROH World Television Championship:ย Samoa Joe def. Shane Taylor
- AEW TNT Championship:ย Luchasaurus def. Darby Allin
- Miro def. Powerhouse Hobbs
- AEW TBS Championship:ย Kris Statlander def. Ruby Soho
- Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks (Strap Match)
- Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta def. Eddie Kingston & Katsuyori Shibata
- Konosuke Takeshita def. Kenny Omegaย
- Bullet Club Gold def. The Young Bucks & FTR
- AEW International Championship:ย Jon Moxley def. Orange Cassidy
