Bryan Danielson has his eye on the AEW World Title.
Tonight’s AEW Dynamite will see Danielson face Chris Jericho to determine who faces the winner of Jon Moxley vs. Sammy Guevara for the vacant AEW World Title at the Grand Slam Dynamite next week. Danielson recently spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso and revealed why he wants to be champion so bad.
“For me, it’s not about being the top guy,” Danielson said. “I don’t care about that. And it’s not about leading the locker room. You can be a leader without the title. I like the feeling of big championship matches. Championship matches are my favorite kind of matches to wrestle. It’s a different feeling from anything else.”
Danielson previously took a loss to Jericho at AEW All Out, and tonight will be their rematch but with higher stakes. Danielson sees the World Title Tournament, and the rematch with Jericho, as a chance to bring wrestling to new heights.
“This is an opportunity to create more excitement,” Danielson said. “I’m pretty pumped about the title tournament. It just lends gravity to all these matches. I’m really excited.”
Danielson also commented on how he and Jericho are vying for the soul of new ROH Pure Champion Daniel Garcia.
“We’re vying for the soul of Daniel Garcia, so we were each wrestling to impress him,” Danielson said. “Isn’t that cool? It’s not just about us. One of the things I really enjoy about AEW is building up younger talent, and Garcia is a huge part of the story.”
“And I loved that it was just a wrestling match against Chris at All Out. We could have had a lot of bells and whistles, but we really stripped it down. I love stripping down wrestling to just wrestling. That’s also a lot of fun for me. It really felt special, especially considering we’ve been around each other for so long but never had a pay-per-view match.”
Danielson also commented on how he and Jericho are opposites in many ways, but kindred spirits in the ring. He said tonight’s match will be completely different.
“One of the things I love about pro wrestling is the different personalities,” Danielson said. “If Chris and I weren’t wrestlers, would we share anything in common? I don’t know, but I know we share a love for this. The reason Chris Jericho wrestles is because he loves it. That’s a shared passion. That’s my connection with Daniel Garcia, too. That love of wrestling brings us all together. And this match is going to be completely different. It’s two guys who want to be AEW champion, and will do anything to get it.”
He continued, “I want to be world champion because being in championship matches is unlike anything else. Those matches, they’ve got a different tension. I love the feeling of a big title match. Those are the feelings and emotions I’m chasing.”
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