Bryan Danielson lost the AEW World Heavyweight Title to Jon Moxley in the main event of the AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view event at the Tacoma Dome, with the stipulation that if Danielson lost, he would have to retire from full-time wrestling.
Danielson was beaten down and banned from television following the bout by the Black Pool Combat Club, and he is expected to undergo neck surgery. However, this was not AEW’s original plan for the WrestleDream main event.
Although not confirmed, it was widely assumed that Darby Allin would have defeated Danielson for the World Title before events changed. On the September 25th episode of Dynamite, Moxley defeated Allin for Allin’s guaranteed World Title opportunity and the WrestleDream match.
In the most recent issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer stated 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 in order to end his career as a full-time star.
