While it was originally thought that Darby Allin would challenge for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship, Jon Moxley was always expected to be the champion after Bryan Danielson.
Danielson became the AEW World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Swerve Strickland in a career vs. title match at the AEW All In London 2024 pay-per-view event from Wembley Stadium. Moxley defeated Danielson to win the title at WrestleDream after defeating Allin on Dynamite’s Grand Slam episode, securing his title shot.
In the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that, while Allin was expected to win the title this year after Danielson, AEW had other plans.
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.”
According to the report, Danielson did not want to win the title. However, AEW CEO Tony Khan persuaded him to win the title because he believed it would be the best way to cap off the year’s biggest show 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.”
