Original plans for Bryan Danielson disclosed after his unexpected return from injury on AEW Collision - Reports
On last night's AEW Collision, Ricky Starks called out Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat to wrestle him at AEW's upcoming pay-per-view, All Out. Steamboat came out, and The Absolute signed a contract for a match against The Dragon. Steamboat then revealed that it will be 'The American Dragon' Bryan Danielson that he will be fighting at the upcoming pay-per-view.
Bryan Danielson suffered from an arm injury during his match against Kazuchika Okada at the AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view on June 25, 2023. While he was initially expected to recover before All In on August 27 and wrestle at the event, it did not happen. Later reports estimated his return to be in October.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said Bryan Danielson was not expected to wrestle before October or at least mid-September. The Veteran added that the 42-year-old star healed quicker than expected, which was very surprising, and called him a team player.
“No. He was going to be back in October. October was the scheduled return and it was touch and go for mid-September or I mean, it was essentially touch and go for the New York show [Arthur Ashe Stadium]. And I figured he was going to debut on the Seattle shows, if not the New York show. So it's 17 days earlier. He was healing better than expected and it's earlier than I expected. Put it that way and that's from being appraised of the situation. It’s earlier. I was surprised. He’s a team player.” Meltzer said (H/t Wrestling News)
Ricky Starks was reportedly going to face CM Punk at AEW All Out
The planned opponent for Ricky Starks at All Out pay-per-view was reportedly CM Punk. The Absolute One, who did not compete on the All In pay-per-view in London due to a storyline suspension, was scheduled to challenge for Punk's "Real" World Championship.
However, it did not pan out as CM Punk was initially suspended following the backstage incident at All In and ultimately released by the company, as announced yesterday. A statement regarding the same was issued by Tony Khan at the recent edition of AEW Collision.
The 33-year-old will now face Bryan Danielson in a Strap match at All Out, which airs live from Chicago tonight at 8 pm ET.