Bryan Danielson wins the Owen Hart Cup at AEW and secures the big title match at London’s Wembley Stadium. Is he in for one last big ride?
It’s not just the wrestling career of megastar John Cena that’s in the home stretch – a similarly big showbiz figure in his own way is also rounding off his legacy.
The “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson has won WWE rival AEW’s Owen Hart Cup and punched his ticket to the main event of AEW’s biggest show of the year at London’s Wembley Stadium.
The former Daniel Bryan of WWE – who plans to end his full-time career in the fall – secured a title match against World Champion All In on Aug. 25 with his victory over Hangman Page on the Dynamite TV show.
The big win raises the question of whether league boss Tony Khan will grant Danielson what could be his final ride as the standard bearer of a major promotion. At the same time, AEW also fixed a big match for All In with the women’s Owen Hart Cup final – which was immediately heated up with a shocking show finale.
Bryan Danielson’s last big ride?
The tournament finals in honor of Owen Hart, who was killed in an accident in 1999, took place on Thursday night in Calgary, the hometown of Owen and brother Bret Hart, as well as the former stronghold of father Stu’s legendary promotion STAMPEDE.
Danielson defeated Hangman Page in front of Owen’s widow Martha and his former tag team partner Jeff Jarrett, who served as the “special enforcer” for the match. Danielson’s tournament victory comes as no surprise: The fading full-time career of the top star, who transferred from WWE in 2021, is the most significant story AEW has to tell at the moment – further charged by the fact that the five-time WWE World Champion Danielson had not yet held a title at AEW and missed last year’s big all-in premiere due to injury.
Curious: The 43-year-old Danielson recently said in an interview that he doesn’t actually want to become World Champion at AEW because he wants to give way to younger wrestlers. But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything: it can be assumed that Boss Khan has a marketing interest in Danielson’s title reign and could therefore overrule him.
In this context, well-known scene reporter Dave Meltzer recently reported that icon Sting would not have wanted to retire this year as the winner of the tag team title duel with Darby Allin against the Young Bucks – before Khan and the Bucks convinced him that this would have been the right ending for everyone involved.
Either way, Danielson is facing a turning point with the end of his current AEW contract. Seven years after his emotional comeback, after his career seemed to be over due to serious head injuries, Danielson wants to be part-time in the ring from the fall and have more time for his wife Brie (Bella) and children
Page and Strickland board Blood and Guts
The defeated Page, meanwhile, was seamlessly integrated into another major storyline at Dynamite: He agreed to be the fifth member of “Team Elite” in the upcoming Blood and Guts match after all – after champion and arch-rival Strickland sided with the opposing “Team AEW.”
Page is seeking revenge for his unfinished business with Strickland and appears to be in the midst of a heel turn to a darker version of his cowboy persona. Team AEW also includes Mark Briscoe and Darby Allin, who returned to Dynamite with an attack on The Elite’s Jack Perry. Portrayed as AEW’s new terror rulers, The Elite consists of Jung Perry, The Bucks and Japan icon Kazuchika Okada.
Mariah May secures title match – and betrays Toni Storm
At the end of the turbulent Dynamite episode, British shooting star Mariah May won the final of the women’s Owen Hart Cup against last year’s winner Willow Nightingale – and thus challenges champion “Timeless” Toni Storm in her home country.
Recently reinvented as the revenant of a classic Hollywood diva, Storm cheered with May, who was introduced to AEW as Storm’s admirer and ally. But May then showed her true colors, knocking Storm down with her title belt and then bloodying Storm’s face with her own high-heeled shoe.
So a long-built blood feud over a betrayed friendship develops between Storm and May, highly touted as the upcoming star of AEW’s women’s division, just in time for AEW’s annual climax.
