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Bryan Danielson Makes AEW Debut At All Out

By TJR Staff • Published 6th September 2021

Bryan Danielson is All Elite. The former WWE Champion known as Daniel Bryan made his highly anticipated AEW debut at the company’s All Out pay-per-view last night.

The 40-year-old Danielson made his appearance after the main event. Kenny Omega defeated Christian Cage to retain the AEW World Championship. After the match, Kenny and his friends from The Elite (The Young Bucks, Gallows & Anderson) beat up Christian. There was a save attempt from Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy, and others that was unsuccessful.

The next man up was the debuting Adam Cole. It appeared as though Cole might attack The Elite, but instead of fighting against them, he fought with them by superkicking Jungle Boy to knock him down. That led to Omega about to sign off for the night with a promo, but there was Bryan Danielson making his AEW debut.

When Danielson got into the ring, he helped the trio of Christian, Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy take care of The Elite guys. Danielson was there to kick some ass as he hit Nick Jackson with a German Suplex followed by the running knee strike that Bryan has used to win some major championships in his illustrious career. Danielson posed on the turnbuckles to end the show.

The reason Bryan Danielson was able to leave WWE to join AEW is because his contract expired on April 30, so he was a free agent. It was the same night when Roman Reigns beat Bryan to retain the Universal Title in what was a terrific match. There were reports that Bryan might re-sign with WWE, but nothing was official.

It was on July 21st when it was first reported by Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net that Bryan had signed a contract with AEW. The initial reports suggested that Bryan was going to debut in AEW on the September 22nd episode of Dynamite at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City, but then those plans changed.

There was a lot of buzz surrounding AEW since CM Punk’s return was expected and took place on August 20, so then Bryan’s return was moved up to All Out.

CM Punk was one of the AEW wrestlers that mentioned Bryan multiple times in recent weeks. During Punk’s first Dynamite appearance on August 25, the crowd was chanting “YES” repeatedly. Punk was smiling big time as he told the fans that they might have to be a little bit more patient for that one, which was an obvious Daniel Bryan reference. In addition to that, Punk teased Bryan’s arrival in Instagram story images as well. Punk also mentioned to Renee Young on her podcast that he would like to team with Danielson against The Young Bucks some day.

In addition to wanting to team with Danielson, Punk told the NY Post that he would like to wrestle Danielson again.

Bryan Danielson is likely going to debut on AEW Dynamite this Wednesday in Cincinnati. Get those “YES” chants ready.