Five Not-So-Obvious Opponents for Bryan Danielson in AEW
Since arriving in All Elite Wrestling, the American Dragon Bryan Danielson seems to be having the time of his life. Danielson faced off against Kenny Omega to a time-limit draw in his first match with the company. He’s also squared off opposite of The Elite, Bobby Fish, Minoru Suzuki, and most recently, Eddie Kingston.
It’s been fun seeing Danielson take on this caliber of opponents right out of the gate. It’s also exciting to speculate who he’ll face off against next in AEW. There’s definitely a list of dream opponents we’d like to see such as Adam Cole, Jungle Boy, and Kenny Omega (again). But there’s an equally long list of not-so-obvious opponents ready to do battle against the American Dragon. One such opponent was the aforementioned Kingston, and seeing the two men go to war as entrants in the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament.
Here are a few more wrestlers we’d like to see square off against Bryan Danielson in an AEW ring.
Ricky Starks
We’ve seen what someone like Powerhouse Hobbs can do when he gets in the ring with a guy like CM Punk. So imagine what we’d get out of Hobbs’ fellow Team Taz member Ricky Starks if he were to face off against Bryan Danielson. No doubt it would be a mix of Starks’ agility and craftiness going up against the American Dragon’s powerful kicks and bone-crushing submissions.
The cool thing about this reinvigorated version of Danielson that we’ve seen since his debut in AEW is that he sometimes blurs the line between face and heel, often feeling like a tweener — or at the very least a craft veteran who isn’t against bending the rules. As such, a contest against the very clearly heel Ricky Starks would be interesting as it would allow Bryan Danielson to take that light heel-ish demeanor and put it up against another dastardly competitor.
Trent?
The former Trent Beretta had an okay run in WWE, but it ultimately declined and felt like a missed opportunity for the company. Trent? is a well-rounded wrestler with diverse offense that’s somewhat reminiscent of stars like Edge and Christian. At 6’2”, he’s also got a bit of size on him.
Bryan Danielson can work with anyone, and the same can be said about Trent? And because the latter has the size advantage, it would create a nice dynamic for the American Dragon, who’s chopped down larger wrestlers his whole career.
Beyond that, though, Bryan Danielson vs. Trent? just seems like it would be a fun match.
Malakai Black
Bryan Danielson vs. Malakai Black. Just think of all the kicks we’d see! Enough said!
Andrade El Idolo
Wrestling is arguably at its most exciting when you get a mesh of styles. So someone like Andrade El Idolo, who utilizes a spectacular lucha libre-inspired moveset, would create magic with the more technical Bryan Danielson.
We’ve seen the type of show Andrade can put on with wrestlers who are mechanically different than he is — in both AEW and NXT. Likewise, we’ve seen that out of Bryan literally everywhere he’s ever wrestled. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long to see what Andrade El Idolo and Bryan Danielson are capable of when they stand across the ring from each other.
Bobby Fish
Given his track record and success with Kyle O’Reilly as part of reDRagon, it’s sometimes easy to forget that Bobby Fish is a skilled singles competitor. Well, if you did indeed forget about that fact, maybe Fish’s recent match against CM Punk in AEW served as a reminder. Not only was that Fish’s best match in AEW to date — it was also arguably one of his best singles matches ever.
Like Bryan Danielson, Bobby Fish mixes striking and submission holds. That said, Fish’s arsenal often resembles that of an MMA fighter’s moveset, whereas Danielson’s is a more traditional, albeit just as painful-looking, technical wrestling style. With that said, we imagine a Fish vs. Danielson bout would be a crazy, ultraviolent battle where both men end up incredibly bruised and sore.
