One of the most important skills all the greats in the history of this business have in common is the ability to promote and motivate fans to want to see a match.
This past week on AEW Dynamite, Bryan Danielson once again proved that he is one of the best of all time. We all know how technically sound Bryan Danielson is in the ring, but sometimes people forget just how good he is on the mic. Bryan has something that can never be taught, he has a connection with the audience because he is the forever underdog. He is the wrestler that was never supposed to be the main eventer of a major promotion according to some executives.
Danielson’s Defying The Odds:
He is the talent that many considered just an indie darling and could never be a world champion outside of the indies. Nothing more than a “good hand” in some executive’s minds. Bryan Danielson has spent his entire career proving the doubters wrong. He proved it time and time again to Vince McMahon and the other executives of WWE. It may be forgotten by some fans, but Bryan Danielson forced WWE’s hands long before the infamous Yes Movement in 2014.
When Bryan Danielson made his main roster debut in WWE as part of the Nexus, he got himself in hot water by being too real for WWE. WWE’s sponsors were furious that WWE would allow one of their wrestlers to choke someone with a tie during this invasion segment. WWE allegedly felt forced to make an example of someone and that someone was Bryan, who wasn’t suspended or fined, but instead fired.
At that time, I vividly remember fans being furious with WWE releasing Bryan and the fans rallied behind him fully during his return to the indies and campaigned for WWE to correct this wrong. Whether it was based on the fan support that Bryan had or it was the intention of the company all along to let some time pass for the sponsors to cool down and bring him back, is something that we will never truly know. Regardless, Bryan would make his return at Summerslam 2010 being featured prominently as the mystery partner of Team WWE against the Nexus.
Bryan would go on to have a great mid-card run in the company as again, the executives never viewed him as the face of the company. However, when they repeatedly screwed Bryan out of the WWE Championship, the audience rallied behind Bryan in a way that we have never seen before or since. The audience did the unthinkable they forced WWE to completely change their WrestleMania plans.
The so called Yes Movement, forced the detour of Vince McMahon’s WrestleMania 30 plans, and left him with no choice but to give the fans what they were demanding. With the launch of the WWE Network literally in the process of launching and the first major PPV airing on it, being WrestleMania 30, it created a WrestleMania moment that is beyond question an unbelievably special moment.
This will be the defining moment of Bryan’s career as he raised the championship titles in triumph as the fans in attendance and those watching at home cheering him on. Bryan literally represented every fan that was ever told they were too small they weren’t good enough to achieve their dreams.
How This All Relates To Danielson vs MJF:
I’ve written about MJF multiple times for this site, and I’ve made it clear just how exceptionally good I think MJF is as a talent. However, like Bryan was in WWE, MJF was greatly undervalued for a very long time by AEW management. MJF has made every rivalry that he has had in AEW, must see and he did that through his ability on the mic. He is substantially better than everyone else than anyone else in the business today on the mic. MJF has made his intentions known that he wants to enter a bidding war for his services in January 2024.
AEW’s management’s hands were seemingly forced to give MJF better pay and the top spot as they at least have some suspicion that MJF, one of their pillars, is at least considering to legitimately jumping ship to WWE especially with Triple H now in charge of creative and one of MJF’s legitimate best friends in this business and AEW co-founder, Cody Rhodes riding high in WWE.
As AEW is suddenly trying to show their appreciation for MJF, like WWE did with Bryan. This now leads us to tonight’s matchup of two essential underdogs as MJF and Danielson go head-to-head in a 60-minute ironman match. The interesting part with this rivalry is that all the promos that have been delivered in this feud really has nor fit the build for an ironman match. The buildup seemed to fit more of a hardcore type match.
However, I believe the reason that they went the ironman route is to showcase that MJF is not just a mic guy, but someone that can go the distance in the ring. MJF is in the absolute best shape in his life and is something that will be showcased tonight in the ring. Bryan knows how to elevate talent in the ring, and I have no doubts in my mind both men will look incredible in this match, and they will deliver.
This promo had passion and realism mixed in and that is a significant reason why it worked so well for the go home show leading to AEW Revolution. It was AEW’s last chance to sell this match and they absolutely delivered here. I do find it interesting that AEW keeps referencing MJF’s real life fiancé dumping him, I can’t imagine she is thrilled about this being referenced on TV. Bryan made it a point that he has fought for everything he has received in the business and MJF has not. It is smart to do this as this is designed to get MJF over as he is likely going to beat Bryan in a match that is more a Bryan type match as ironman is a technical and endurance focused match.
Final Thoughts:
This match is being done to elevate MJF as not only a top guy on the mic in fans’ minds, but in the ring as well. The MJF vs Bryan feud is very similar to Miz vs Bryan as they are both complete opposites to Bryan both in character and in real life. MJF and Bryan have all the potential to deliver an absolute classic tonight and I for one cannot wait to watch this with the WRWD crew tonight.
ITTMP
Photo Credits – WWE & AEW
