5 Major Booking Steps For Daniel Bryan's AEW Debut
4. He Doesn't Go Straight For A Championship
You'd think with AEW's somewhat faithful rankings system that this would go without saying. It has happened, though.
Debuting at the 2020 Double or Nothing pay-per-view, Brian Cage won the Casino Ladder match, earning an AEW World Championship opportunity in his first outing. 'The Machine' made this work and the match with Jon Moxley didn't come for another two months; regardless, this was entirely unlike All Elite Wrestling's credible booking methods.
For Bryan Danielson to work properly in the promotion, he must shy away from championship glory for the first few months. Early 2022 at the earliest is when AEW should be considering crowning Danielson as a champion, whether that's the World Championship or the TNT Championship.
Take the former for example; by the time Danielson comes into the promotion post-All Out, 'Hangman' Adam Page will presumably be the World Champion, having usurped Kenny Omega at the 5 September pay-per-view. Would you rather take Page's thunder away after the greatest pro wrestling story arc of the modern era by having him challenged almost straight away by 'The American Dragon', or would you prefer to build that match for a future date? The 2022 Double or Nothing, perhaps.
There's no argument to that rhetorical question. There's no justified reasoning for AEW to throw their rankings system out the window for a while just to benefit one star, regardless of their calibre.