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The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle, which will return Sept. 3.
Most times when a wrestler puts his career on the line it doesn’t end well, and that’s what makes Bryan Danielson versus Swerve Strickland at All In so intriguing.
The show has become the equivalent of AEW’s WrestleMania as it will be the company’s first true U.S. stadium show next year at Globe Life Field in Texas after two years at London’s Wembley Stadium.
All In on Sunday (Noon, Bleacher Report, TrillerTV) was one Tony Khan appeared to hope Sting would be open to making his retirement show. Now it has a chance to be Danielson’s if he doesn’t win the AEW world championship for the first time and his first world title since 2019.
It feels like this should be a chance to celebrate Danielson — and not say goodbye — in one more moment of triumph that will link arguably the best wrestler of his generation to the AEW world championship forever.
Hopefully, that’s the case. But it’s not that simple.
Danielson, 43, is in his final year as a full-time wrestler, fulfilling his promise to his daughter Birdie that he’d be done when she turned 7 years old, which she did in May.
He said he is nursing a neck injury he suffered while attempting to give Will Ospreay a Frankensteiner during their match in April and said during an interview with Jim Ross on Dynamite that the odds are he will likely need “to get neck surgery before the end of this year.”
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If it’s not a piece of kayfabe, does that shorten Danielson’s time with the company even if a more fitting retirement opportunity presents itself at WrestleDream? It’s in Danielson’s home state of Washington and Strickland’s hometown of Tacoma on Oct. 12.
“Hangman” Page costing his rival Strickland the match is a possibility, but does AEW really want to cut his world title reign off after four months and give Danielson a two-to-four-month ceremonial one when Strickland is clicking on all cylinders?
Would teasing this to be Danielson’s final match take away from when he is finally ready to call his full-time career quits later this year?
It’s the corner AEW has booked itself into — unless Danielson’s health has put it there. They even gave him a beautiful tribute video to Green Day’s “Time of Your Life” last week to further do an excellent job of drumming up all the feelings around him and adding doubt to which way this turns out to get fans further invested.
My gut tells me Danielson gives us one more triumphant moment, hopefully with wife Brie, Birdie and son Buddy celebrating with him in the ring with the Blackpool Combat Club.
It’s one of the things that really needs to happen at All In, along with Jamie Hayter returning, Will Ospreay beating MJF only because of the venue, Jack Perry beating Darby Allin for the first time in his signature Coffin match to defend his TNT championship and Mariah May winning the AEW women’s world championship from Toni Storm with help from Mina Shirakawa.
But if Danielson doesn’t win, it will be one hell of a way and place to end a legendary career that deeply connected with so many fans while putting over someone emerging as one of the best in the industry today — just as he would likely want.
Video Players
AEW nailed its video package and taped promos on Dynamite this week. The MJF-Ospreay one made the match feel like a big deal, really laid out the viciousness of the story without getting into the U.S. vs. U.K. stuff that won’t appeal to a mass audience and made it feel like you were going to see two of the very best wrestlers today duke it out.
May continued to differentiate herself from Storm. The shot of May over the fire burning her old Storm outfits was a great visual and she continues to project a coldness when she says: “Don’t worry Toni, we’re both going to die. I just get to write your eulogy.” The Danielson montage struck a perfect tone of celebration and potential farewell with clips from his ROH, AEW and indy days. It it feels like Khan, Mike Mansouri and Co. have continued to step up their game in these areas.
Hail to the Real Chief
Solo Sikoa may call himself the Tribal Chief, but it’s pretty clear he ranks behind Jacob Fatu and Roman in WWE’s The Bloodline pecking order. We have already gotten way too much one-sided physicality between Reigns, Sikoa and Tama Tonga.
Fatu decimating Reigns makes that the only singles match I want to see now. I also wouldn’t have had Reigns put the Ula Falla on. That feels like a huge moment wasted on TV, even if Paul Heyman ends up being the one putting it back on him later.
The 10 Count
It was about time the new Judgment Day didn’t look incompetent, especially with their drastic numbers advantage over Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley. That was a dominant-looking beatdown on Raw. Does Jey Uso, who is going for the Intercontinental championship for now, eventually get recruited by Ripley to help even the odds?
Everything about Jack Perry screams that he needs to break ties with The Young Bucks and The Elite, who lean much more into obnoxious comedy. Perry’s “Scapegoat” character — who now has his own custom TNT championship — is far more gritty and dangerous. We saw that in his Dynamite attack on Darby Allin. One day soon, Perry will be the leader of his own faction.
I know NXT has Stephanie Vaquer and Giulia waiting in the wings — likely for the move to CW in October — but it feels NXT hadn’t been putting any of the women not holding titles in a position to break out outside of Lola Vice or Sol Ruca to a degree. That’s why it will be interesting to see who wins the gauntlet eliminator match to face Roxanne Perez for the NXT women’s championship at No Mercy. Will this be the opportunity someone seizes to gain momentum?
Can’t think of a better way for Nic Nemeth, who dropped his AAA Mega championship to Alberto Del Rio — who turned heel with JBL and Konnan — at Triplemania XXXII, to make a statement so early in his TNA World championship run than a 60-minute ironman match with Josh Alexander at Emergence on Aug. 30. Nemeth’s in-ring work has always been praised and this is a chance for a Match of the Year contender.
It was a bit of a “We’re Still Here” type performance as The Street Profits and DIY put on a PLE-quality tag team match for the No. 1 contendership for The Bloodline’s WWE tag team championship. Dawkins and Ford, who could have gone backward after Bobby Lashley exited WWE, won and now find themselves mixed into prime TV real estate in The Bloodline story.
Alpha Academy vs. American Made is turning into a never-ending story thanks to the Wyatt Sicks interference. Why does Nikki Cross have to appear in the middle of a match between Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupree?
Here’s hoping we still get Saraya on All In and that her AEW women’s championship match this week isn’t the payoff to the angle that she needs to be on the show. I’m in the group looking for an open challenge that leads to Jamie Hayter’s return
Maybe the most intriguing thing to happen at Triplemania was Jinder Mahal’s arrival, winning the AAA tag team championships with AEW’s Satnam Singh and aligning with Jeff Jarrett. It’s quite the team — do they now end up in AEW or ROH?
Otis and Oba Femi both benefited from their NXT North American championship match. Few people push Femi around the way Otis did, so it made the ridiculous powerbomb the champ delivered that much more meaningful. It added to the weight the win carries for Femi.
I’m curious to see if Naomi is used in more of a gatekeeper role, as she did against Blair Davenport.
Extra: Whoever came up with the idea of the team-themed WWE legacy championships deserves a raise. Amazing piece of advertising, marketing and merch all weekend that was given to some of the sports world’s biggest stars on social media from Fanatics Fest.
Social Media Post of The Week
Wrestler of the Wee
Zack Sabre Jr, New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Sabre has long been considered one of the best technical wrestlers in the world but had never quite reached main-event status in New Japan. That will change after he won the prestigious G1 Climax tournament for the first time, defeating Yota Tsuji in the final as praise poured out from his peers all across wrestling. His IWGP World Heavyweight title match against Tetsuya Naito will not come at Wrestle Kingdom, but the King Of Pro Wrestling show in October, signaling New Japan may be in a rush to get the championship on him.
Match To Watch
MJF vs. Will Ospreay, American Championship at AEW All In (Sunday, Noon, Bleacher Report/ Triller TV)
Their Dynamite main event in June was a Match of the Year contender and a clinic in perfect timing on the finish. Now two of the best wrestlers in the industry give us an encore in front of a packed Wembley Stadium. MJF has rebranded the International championship as the American championship and is parading it around like an American Hero (really representing only Long Island!) that should leave the London crowd hungry for Ospreay to hold up gold.
