A highlight of any AEW post-PPV media scrum, at least for this writer, is an appearance by The American Dragon. Bryan Danielson thinks a lot about pro wrestling (and a lot of other things), and expresses those thoughts in interesting, engaging ways.
His time on the microphone after the Sept. 3 All Out event was no exception. There was a poetry recommendation (the works of the late Mary Oliver) and musings about work-life balance (while discussing AEW owner, president & booker Tony Khan recently telling his father to turn to Danielson for help running the company should anything happen to him, but also including a hint that Bryan might be the new star of Collision because Saturdays are better for his family’s schedule).
Danielson did say he would do almost anything to ensure AEW’s continued viability and success, stressing how important having multiple major wrestling companies is for everyone on all sides of the industry. But that’s only part of why he’s bullish on AEW despite a loud recent hiccup. The Dragon also thinks very highly of several of his wrestling colleagues, singling out three of them in his remarks.
Naturally, one was his All Out opponent, Ricky Starks. Danielson said he was fully cleared by both AEW medical and an outside surgeon to return from the fractured forearm he suffered at Forbidden Door in June, but admitted there was a lot of “smoke and mirrors” involved in the Strap Match with Starks at the United Center. One example he gave was that he never threw a strike with his right arm (the one broken against Kazuchika Okada). Beyond that, he gave credit to Absolute:
“So one, I had an excellent opponent tonight. And I think every time people see Ricky Starks, every time Ricky Starks gets an opportunity, he knocks it out of the park. And I will be the first one to say — and this is outside of like, within our stories and what we do — he carried me through that match tonight.
“And I’m good at certain things — I mean,