Bryan Danielson fires shots at WWE for releasing 33-year-old star - "Who would ever let go of this guy?"
WWE and AEW are forced to part ways with wrestlers for various reasons. Talent releases are an unfortunate, but necessary, part of the business. Most layoffs make sense or are justified, but many leave fans and insiders scratching their heads. Bryan Danielson is now speaking out on a release that benefited All Elite Wrestling.
Swerve Strickland has been wrestling for almost eleven years before joining WWE in April 2019 as Isaiah "Swerve" Scott. His NXT debut came the following month, and two years later he founded the Hit Row faction and became NXT North American Champion. The 2021 WWE Draft in October sent the stable to SmackDown, but by late November all four superstars were released due to budget cuts. The rapper-wrestler signed with AEW in March 2022.
The King of Swerve has established himself as a top AEW talent. He dropped the World Championship to Danielson at All In in August, then lost a brutal Unsanctioned Lights Out Steel Cage match to Adam Page at All Out. Undisputed's Justin Barrasso recently spoke with The American Dragon, and it was noted that Strickland left the ring in much higher regard than before, despite the losses.
The current AEW World Champion had immense praise for his fellow Washingtonian. Danielson also accused WWE of not seeing value in the former Killshot.
"Swerve was perfect at All In. I mean, he’s incredible. He just signed a new contract with AEW–and that is one of the benefits of having two mainstream wrestling companies in the United States. WWE didn’t see value in him, and they let him go. When Swerve came here, he said he was going to become AEW Champion–and he did," Bryan Danielson said.
Danielson continued and speculated on why Strickland's WWE run didn't work out. He reiterated why it's important to have two major promotions in the United States.
"You watch him and ask, 'Who would ever let go of this guy?' He just wasn’t given the opportunity to be his best self. That goes both ways–I don’t want it to sound like, 'Oh, evil WWE, they don’t let their talent be their best selves.' Some people will thrive there, some will thrive here, [some] will thrive in both places, [some] who will be underutilized. That’s the benefit of having two major companies in the United States. If someone doesn’t see value in you, you can try elsewhere," Bryan Danielson said.
Danielson labeled Strickland as "the most professional of the professionals," adding that the former U.S. Army Reserve soldier is like Samoa Joe and Claudio Castagnoli in that they will do whatever is needed, without hesitating.
The former WWE Champion is "so impressed" by the way Swerve has been able to prove how skilled he is in the ring. He continued delivering Strickland's flowers, admitting he can't say enough about the former MLW World Heavyweight Champion, as a pro wrestler or a human being.
WWE Hall of Famer knocks the AEW product
AEW received a mixed bag of feedback following two of their biggest events of the year: All In and All Out. Eric Bischoff was among the many industry insiders and fans that have weighed in on the controversial events.
All Out was praised by many fans, but also criticized over some of the violence. Jon Moxley choked Bryan Danielson with a plastic bag over his head, Swerve Strickland and Adam Page used many weapons on each other in the Steel Cage, and the Street Fight between Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander was another violent outing.
Bischoff discussed the creative direction on his 83 Weeks podcast and revealed that he detested the pay-per-view.
"It's just desperation. I don't... actually, I do get it. I'm just searching for a different way to say it, and its hard. I just think creatively, they're in a pit, and apparently the harder they are trying to dig out of it, the deeper the pit gets. This was garbage in my opinion," Eric Bischoff said. [From 34:51 to 35:13]
Tonight's AEW Dynamite will be the go-home episode for next week's Grand Slam special. All Elite Wrestling will then return to pay-per-view on October 12 for WrestleDream.