Daniel Bryan is now All Elite. The former WWE Champion made his All Elite Wrestling (AEW) debut on Sunday night at All Out and now goes by his real name Bryan Danielson. He went face with the Elite before they left the ring. Danielson’s wife Brie Bella and his sister-in-law Nikki Bella went to social media to react to the big reveal.
“Soo proud and soooo happy!!!” Brie wrote on her Instagram story, per Wrestling Inc. “Love you, sweetface!!!” Nikki expressed her love for Danielson on Twitter, stating she has a “badass for a brother in law.” It was reported that Danielson was joining AEW not too long after his last match in WWE which was at WrestleMania 37 in April. When All Out stopped airing, Danielson spoke to the fans in the NOW Arena in Chicago explaining why he wanted to be part of AEW.
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“I am a wrestler,” Bryan said, per our sister site ComicBook.com. “I never left wrestling, I took wrestling wherever I went, I said wrestling when I wasn’t supposed to say wrestling. And now I am here to goddamn wrestle. And there are some people around here who call themselves ‘elite.’ I’m going to be here to see if they truly are. So AEW, let’s f—ing go!” Danielson’s AEW debut comes a few weeks after CM Punk made his return to pro wrestling after a seven-year hiatus. He appeared on AEW: Rampage last month, which was also in Chicago. Punk faced Darby Allin at All Out and came away with a win.
“So I heard something over the past week that one of the things that really turned Punk was the Brodie Lee show,” Danielson continued. “It was also one of the things that I saw it and so many of us loved him so much and so we saw it and saw how special it was and we saw, like okay, we’re gonna stop what we’re normally doing.
“I thought that was really special to me. So that was when I really started kind of thinking (it), knowing that my contract coming up. But the final decision, honestly, was just like, I started thinking about things and WWE was so gracious with me as far as the offer that they gave me. They were going to let me go do some other stuff on the outside.” Sunday night was a big night for AEW. Along with Danielson’s AEW debut former WWE Superstar and NXT Champion Adam Cole appeared at the end of the show. Additionally, former WWE SuperStar Ruby Riott, who now goes by Ruby Soho, competed in the 21-woman Casino Battle Royale and will face Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. for the AEW Women’s World Championship.
