Bryan Danielson dropped the AEW World Heavyweight Title to Jon Moxley in the headliner of the AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view event from the Tacoma Dome with the stipulation that if Danielson had lost, then he would’ve had to retire from full-time wrestling.
After the bout, Danielson was beaten down and written off television in an attack by the Black Pool Combat Club, as he is expected to get neck surgery. However, this wasn’t what AEW originally planned to do for the main event of WrestleDream.
Although not confirmed, it was widely expected Darby Allin would’ve beaten Danielson for the World Title before things changed. On the September 25th episode of Dynamite, Moxley beat Allin for Allin’s guaranteed World Title opportunity to get the WrestleDream match.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that “the Moxley turn on Danielson after his title defense over Jack Perry at All Out in Chicago changed the direction with the idea of putting as much heat as possible on Moxley and the BCC in an attempt to jump-start interest in the promotion.”
As previously reported by Fightful, Bryan specifically wanted to lose to Moxley to end his career as a full-time star.
