5 Major Booking Steps For Daniel Bryan's AEW Debut
2. He Isn't A Happy-Go-Lucky Babyface
This doesn't mean that Bryan Danielson can't be a babyface in AEW; he just shouldn't be stepping onto the stage with a gleeful smile.
As much as that character worked for him in WWE, All Elite Wrestling is an entirely different beast, needless to say. This is the place where you can have a show featuring the goofiness of the Dark Order followed by literal sociopath Nick Gage. 'Guy who smiles and sidesteps to the ring' isn't going to catch on in the Tony Khan-helmed promotion.
If anyone can pull off portraying Bryan Danielson as a hero without the need for him to chant 'YES!' on his way to the ring every single time, it's AEW. They create these characters who aren't babyfaces and heels, but rather good guys and bad guys. Those wrestling terms are removed here because AEW gives them a whole new meaning; Jon Moxley, a guy who thrives when dropping adversaries through glass tables and utilising barbed wire apparatus, is a babyface. Anywhere else, he'd be a heel.
As far as Danielson is concerned, he can maintain the good guy persona in AEW simply by producing consistently quality contests and building sympathy for himself. Adam Page is already doing this, remember? You need only have Danielson confront MJF, and you've established him as the good guy. This is how simplistic AEW can be to make their points.