While it was originally believed Darby Allin was slated for an AEW World Heavyweight Title run, it was Jon Moxley who was always supposed to be the champion after Bryan Danielson.
Danielson became the AEW World Heavyweight Champion once he went over Swerve Strickland in a career vs. title match that headlined the AEW All In London 2024 pay-per-view event from Wembley Stadium. At WrestleDream, Moxley beat Danielson to win the title after beating Allin on the Grand Slam episode of Dynamite, taking his title shot in the process.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that while the story of Allin being planned to win the title this year after Danielson, AEW had something else in mind.
Meltzer wrote, “The secret plan from months ago was always Danielson to Jon Moxley as a heel. The Swerve Strickland to Danielson and then to Moxley story was planned prior to Moxley winning the IWGP title, but apparently the only people who were supposed to know were Tony Khan, Moxley, Danielson and Allin.”
Per the report, Danielson didn’t want to win the title. However, he was convinced by AEW CEO Tony Khan to win the title because he felt that his win would be the best possible moment for the end of the biggest show of the year at All In. Danielson “pretty much chose the end date in Tacoma as that date wasn’t locked in stone, but going to Moxley as a heel was the idea. The new Moxley version of the BCC is his idea.”
