Bryan Danielson isn’t chasing the AEW World Championship because he wants to be the top guy. Instead, he wants to be the champion so he can wrestle in title matches.
AEW vacated the title after CM Punk, who had just won the gold, went down with an injury at AEW All Out. The company kicked off the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions on the September 7 episode of AEW Dynamite, where Danielson defeated Hangman Page to advance to the next round. He will face Chris Jericho in a semi-final match on the September 14 episode of the show, and the finals will be held at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam.
In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Danielson previewed the tournament and noted that, for him, it’s not about trying to be the top guy or lead the locker room. He emphasized that he likes to compete in championship matches.
“For me, it’s not about being the top guy,” said Danielson. “I don’t care about that. And it’s not about leading the locker room. You can be a leader without the title. I like the feeling of big championship matches. Championship matches are my favorite kind of matches to wrestle. It’s a different feeling from anything else. This is an opportunity to create more excitement. I’m pretty pumped about the title tournament. It just lends gravity to all these matches. I’m really excited.”
