Bryan Danielson's AEW Debut Was A Botch According To Fans

Over the past year or so, All Elite Wrestling has been on a mission to "restore the feeling." What that feeling is exactly can't be fully described by many people, if you were to ask an AEW fan the closest thing to what the feeling is, they would most likely point to the 2021 All Out pay-per-view. Heralded as the one of the best shows in AEW history, and to some the best, All Out 2021 is best remembered for its iconic ending that saw the arrival of both Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson.

For context, back in 2021, Danielson had just main evented his second WrestleMania, where both he and Edge unsuccessfully challenged Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship, before losing to Reigns on the April 30, 2021 episode of "WWE SmackDown" in a Title vs. Career match. Some people suspected that the man formerly known as Daniel Bryan was just going to take some time away from WWE after being one of the few shining stars in the COVID-19 pandemic, a time that killed a lot of fans love for wrestling as a whole, but the "American Dragon" never came back, and just two weeks after the legendary AEW debut of CM Punk, Danielson became "All Elite."

Danielson's AEW debut had reportedly been in the works for some time, with the former WWE Champion opting not to sign a new contract despite being offered a number of perks by Vince McMahon to stay with WWE, including the chance to work for New Japan Pro Wrestling. This meant that a lot of people flocked to Hoffman Estates, Illinois for All Out 2021 purposely to see the "American Dragon" fly once more, but the fact that he wasn't entirely the center of attention on September 5, 2021 rubbed some fans the wrong way.

For context, Adam Cole wasn't on anybody's radar by the time All Out 2021 came around. In fact, he was involved in the final "WWE NXT" TakeOver event, NXT TakeOver 36, on August 22 two weeks before All Out, wrestling Kyle O'Reilly in what felt like the natural conclusion to his time in "NXT." This led many to think that he would quickly move to the main roster, but his contract quietly expired, leading to him arriving at All Out before the "American Dragon."

At the time, some fans believed that Cole showing up before Danielson actually overshadowed the former WWE Champion's arrival. Too many moving parts, a very long show that had exhausted the fans by the end of the night, and the fact that the likes of Minoru Suzuki and Ruby Soho also made their first AEW appearances on the night, two debuts that have completely fallen by the wayside given the ending of the show.

Despite some fans not being entirely pleased with the whole segment, the men involved were very happy with how things turned out. Cole stated in a recent interview that his AEW debut was one of the coolest moments of his entire career, meanwhile Danielson claimed that the last time he was as nervous as All Out 2021 was when he announced that he was coming out of retirement before WrestleMania 34 in 2018.

Amazingly, outside of an eight man tag team match on the 2nd anniversary edition of "AEW Dynamite" in October 2021, Cole and Danielson never faced off in a singles match in AEW, something that Cole truly regrets now that the "American Dragon" has retired from full-time action. However, there is a chance that Danielson will get back in the ring if his severe neck issues heal up over the next few years.