Bryan Danielson’s influence in AEW appears to be growing significantly.
While the star has long been known as one of the best wrestlers in the world and has been involved in a number of acclaimed matches since moving to the company, he has wrestled sparingly in recent months.
This was followed by reports that the American Dragon will be part of the creative team for Collision when it launches on June 17th. However, it has now been reported by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio that Danielson already has significant influence backstage.
Meltzer noted that Danielson has “a lot of booking influence,’ adding that it’s more than people think.
“By the way, Danielson — everyone knows that Danielson has got a lot of booking influence now in AEW. It’s more than people think. It’s funny because when he talked about it last Sunday, and said about how he and Tony Khan, their thought process is very similar when it comes to wrestling, and basically from Tony Khan’s standpoint it’s kinda the same thing.
They have ideas, and they’re bouncing stuff off, they love bouncing stuff off each other.
The Friday show [Rampage] was an example of those two guys kind of bouncing an idea like ‘We’re gonna do a championship night,’ and that was what they came up with. But he’s got a lot of influence — he’s a very key part of creative right now.”
BREAKING@bryandanielson has just challenged Kazuchika Okada!#njpw#njdominionpic.twitter.com/oWDvoUKhNI
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) June 4, 2023
Major Match Featuring Bryan Danielson Set For AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door
While Bryan Danielson might have wrestled infrequently so far in 2023, he is set to compete in one of the biggest matches of the year at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door II on June 25th. At NJPW Dominion, Danielson laid down a challenge to Kazuchika Okada, and the match was later made official.
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