Bryan Danielson's Retirement: AEW Just Planted Seeds For American Dragon's Final Opponent

Darby Allin appears to be poised to end Danielson's career.

By Liam Crowley

Bryan Danielson's wrestling career is in its final countdown. Last fall, Danielson announced that the following 365 days would be the final stretch of his full-time wrestling career, citing a promise he made to put his full focus on his family once his daughter turned seven years old. Going into this summer, Danielson re-emphasized that that timeline was still intact, noting that he would retire at AEW ALL IN: London should he lose his headlining world title match against then-champion Swerve Strickland. Danielson would defeat Swerve to capture the AEW World Championship, his first world title in over five years and his first championship overall in AEW.

Even as AEW World Champion, Danielson's retirement plans are still in place. In his first televised appearance after winning the gold, Danielson declared that once he lost the AEW World Title, he would retire. 

As these events were unfolding, Danielson's Blackpool Combat Club stablemate Jon Moxley returned to AEW television. "Wild Thing" was traded in for Moxley's instrumental New Japan Pro Wrestling theme song, his high-energy promos swapped for quiet and calm cryptic words, and his BCC posse replaced by fellow GCW Bloodsport competitor Marina Shafir. Moxley locked in this new persona when he fractured the BCC at AEW All Out, leading an uncomfortable attack on Danielson as stablemate Wheeler Yuta was forced to watch on.

AEW Plants Seeds For Bryan Danielson's Final Opponent

TONY-KHAN-AEW-BRYAN-DANIELSON
(Photo: AEW)

Has the slayer of the American Dragon just been revealed?

After three weeks of calling him out, Jon Moxley finally got his long-awaited "talk" with Darby Allin. Moxley paid respect to Allin, praising the multi-time AEW TNT Champion's relentless work ethic, but ultimately declared that he was "not ready" to challenge for the AEW World Championship. Allin, who earned a world title match earlier this summer, agreed to put that shot on the line against Moxley at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam on September 25th.

A couple of segments later, Nigel McGuinness appeared before the live crowd. AEW's resident color commentator returned to the ring at AEW ALL IN: London, wrestling his first match in over a decade. McGuinness called out AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson, taunting his former Ring of Honor rival to face him at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam in two weeks time.

Without anticipating the future timeline, the latter segment feels rushed. McGuinness has spent years pushing for a rematch with Danielson. Why run it on a television taping with a two-week build instead of on a pay-per-view with at least a month of anticipation?

That's because Danielson's time is numbered, and even more so than originally anticipated. 

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AEW's next pay-per-view event, AEW WrestleDream, is scheduled for Danielson's home state of Washington, and that appears to be the site of his actual retirement match more than ever. Based on Moxley's words on Wednesday, it's evident that Allin is being built up as Danielson's final opponent. The only reason to accelerate the McGuinness match to AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam is because AEW WrestleDream is being reserved for Allin, a fellow Washington native.

In order to lock that into place, Allin needs to beat Moxley at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam. Will AEW have Mox lose so soon after returning to television? Is that victory alone enough to make Allin "ready" to be AEW World Champion? How can AEW sustain momentum across all of this storyline's variables? These questions, and many more, will need to be answered in what is shaping up to be the most crucial four-week stretch of AEW programming to date.

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