Video: AEW Shares Retrospective Tribute To The American Dragon, Bryan Danielson

By Eric Mutter
Bryan Danielson poses with an eyepatch Etsuo Hara/Getty Images

Just a day before "AEW Dynamite," Tony Khan revealed that the show would feature a special tribute to Bryan Danielson. The idea of a tribute to Danielson, who's scheduled to challenge Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at All In next week, in a match where Danielson is also putting his career on the line, didn't surprise anyone. What was surprising was Khan's revelation that the video package would be set to the Green Day classic "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" a song Danielson said he'd like played at his funeral.

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On Wednesday, Khan was true to his word, airing a near three minute tribute to Danielson, set to "Good Riddance" just prior to the main event, where Strickland defeated Danielson's protege Wheeler Yuta. While not featuring any footage from Danielson's 10+ year run with WWE, the tribute featured just out everything else, including still photos and clips from Wrestling Road Diaries, Danielson's runs in Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerilla, his matches in CMLL and New Japan, and of course, his three year run with AEW.

"I think of things that I've been deeply impacted by," Danielson narrated over the clips. "It's not necessarily the matches. It's the moments, the relationships you build. And this will be 25 years into wrestling. I'm the best, mentally that I've ever been."

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The video package was seen as moving by many fans, wrestlers, and pundits, with the lone exception of Strickland. After beating Yuta, Strickland threatened to cripple Danielson at All In, in front of Danielson's family no less, and then proceeded to lay out Danielson with a House Call when the latter turned his back to close the show.

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