AEW's Bryan Danielson To Work NJPW G1 Climax 2023?
Tony Khan addresses the possibility of seeing the American Dragon in this year's G1 Climax.
Could Bryan Danielson finally have the opportunity to work New Japan Pro-Wrestling's G1 Climax tournament? AEW President Tony Khan has not ruled the possibility out...
Speaking on The Kliq podcast (as per Fightful), Khan noted how it would be "great" to see the American Dragon compete in NJPW's hugely popular annual tourney.
That said, Tony did likewise explain how logistically it could be problematic for Danielson to be absent from AEW programming for a prolonged spell - particularly if he were to dethrone MJF for the AEW World Championship at Revolution next month.
As Khan put it:
"To be honest, I think it would be great in many ways, but Bryan Danielson, it's quite possible, could be AEW World Champion. Either way, I mean, I think it'd be hard for him to disappear from the show, especially as the AEW World Champion. I'm not sure he'll be able to get away from the show that much. We'll have to see what happens here coming out of Revolution with MJF vs. Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Championship in the 60-minute Iron Man match in San Francisco on March 5."
Danielson himself has talked up how he'd love to work the G1 Climax one year, and it was even previously reported how WWE at one point reached to to NJPW to see about the former Daniel Bryan competing in the tournament. That was shortly before the nowadays Blackpool Combat Club man departed WWE, with WWE reaching out to New Japan in an effort to convince the Washington native to remain with the market leader.
Traditionally, the G1 Climax - bar the problematic pandemic years - runs from July through until August. While last year's tournament was made up of four blocks, the G1 usually features two blocks of wrestlers. Each wrestler competes against the other talents in their block, with points picked up for wins. The wrestlers with the most points in each block then face off to determine with winner of the tournament, and that winner then gets a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at the next year's Wrestle Kingdom.
Last year's G1 Climax was won by Kazuchika Okada, with the Rainmaker then going on to take the IWGP World Heavyweight Title from Jay White at Wrestle Kingdom 17 this January.
Bryan Danielson getting to spend four weeks competing in the G1 Climax is something many a wrestling fan would love to see. Whether it ends up becoming a reality, that remains to be seen.