Folks, I must tell you, the big brains over at AEW were not prepared for this one, believe me. Legendary British wrestling figure Nigel McGuinness, after a grand, triumphant comeback at Wembley, decided to call out none other than the AEW World Champion himself, Bryan Danielson. Now, this wasn’t some multi-million-dollar, five-star, Hollywood-level storyline that was meticulously crafted by a team of geniuses. Oh no, it just fell into their lap like a sandwich at a picnic. Whoops!
According to the finest wrestling minds—led by the impeccable Dave Meltzer, a man who counts star ratings like the Electoral College counts votes—this match-up wasn’t even on the planning radar. But you know what they say, the best things in life happen when you’re not paying attention, or, in this case, when creative teams forget to make a plan.
“From what I understand, the whole McGuinness thing was not something long planned out,” Meltzer mused, probably over a soy latte. “You always thought they were going to do the match before Danielson retires,” which, to be honest, could happen any day now. Time catches up with everyone, even world champions.
And where will this totally not spontaneous match happen? New York, of course! The place where dreams, and apparently, impromptu wrestling matches, are born. They say these two are going to tear the house down, but we’ll believe it when we see it.
Darby Allin (you know, the guy who always looks like he just crawled out of a Hot Topic and wrestles like it too) will be battling it out with Jon Moxley on September 25 for a shot at Danielson’s title. This is happening while Danielson recovers from getting literally choked out by his old buddies in the Blackpool Combat Club. Who knew that joining a club with “combat” in the name could lead to violence, right?
Meltzer, the oracle of pro wrestling, speculates that while Darby might take the win (because, hey, he’s from Washington too), Moxley’s the “money match.” You know, because people just can’t get enough of that “I’m here to bleed all over the ring and scream while doing it” energy. I mean, who doesn’t want that?
Speaking of Nigel McGuinness, this guy hadn’t wrestled since 2011, which was like three lifetimes ago in wrestling years. But now he’s back, and he’s ready to rehash some old beef from the early 2000s with Danielson, from their ROH days. For those keeping score, this rivalry included some real bruisers for the ROH World and Pure Championships. Ah, the glory days when life was simpler, and we all had flip phones.
So there you have it, folks. A match that wasn’t planned, a comeback nobody expected, and a rivalry that refuses to die. Will it be epic? Sure. Will it be planned? Probably not. But you know what? That’s what makes it great.