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Bryan Danielson on Kazuchika Okada: ‘He’s A Star’

“It’s not about starting over in AEW”

Justin Barrasso

For the first time in his career, Bryan Danielson will step through the ropes at Arena Mexico.

Later tonight, Danielson will team with Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Matt Sydal at CMLL’s Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show, where they will share the ring with Místico, Volador Jr., Blue Panther, and Ultimo Guerrero. The match, which airs on CMLL’s YouTube subscription service, will be a fantasy-come-true for Danielson, who finally gets a chance to wrestle Blue Panther, the 63-year-old lucha legend.

“This is my last year as a full-time wrestler, and I really want to go out–and I feel like I can–producing my absolute best work,” said Danielson. “I loved my match against Okada. I loved the Zack Sabre Jr. match. I loved the match I just had with Eddie [Kingston] at Revolution. I love what I’m doing, and I m excited about what’s to come.”

Danielson started off the year in style, wrestling Kazuchika Okada at the Tokyo Dome during New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s famed Wrestle Kingdom event. Months later, Okada joined Danielson in AEW, where he is already the Continental Champion.

“Okada is a great fit for AEW,” said Danielson. “We’ve seen that right since his debut with The Young Bucks.”

A major difference between AEW and WWE–especially in the way WWE was run under Vince McMahon–is that AEW owner Tony Khan embraces a wrestler’s history outside the company. That has added extra gravitas to Okada upon joining AEW, where he is celebrated for his long list of triumphs in NJPW.

“That’s the way Tony presents stars in AEW,” said Danielson. “It’s not about starting over in AEW. So he was brought in as a star and introduced as a star. It’s the same way we introduced Will Ospreay, and the same way we’ve treated Místico. They’ve already proven it, so that’s the way we’ll present them to our audience. It’s a different approach from the ‘let’s see if this new talent can sink-or-swim.’ He’s a star. That’s how he’s treated.”

After tonight’s eight-man tag in Mexico City, an area of interest will be the post-match interview. Danielson has been a driving force for AEW in the interview department, where he feels it is an absolute necessity to create freely and without restrictions.

“When I say I want to produce my best work, that’s not just from a match standpoint–it’s also with interviews,” said Danielson. “I think about the backstage interview with Eddie at Revolution. I didn’t know what Eddie was going to say, and he didn’t know what I was going to say.

“There’s ideas of what pro wrestling interviews are, and it’s typically boxed into a certain kind of thing. I think there’s room for experimenting with that. We did that in the Continental Classic with the backstage interviews, and it wasn’t just with my interviews–we did that with Daniel Garcia’s interviews, Eddie’s interviews, Mark Briscoe’s interviews. The ability for these performers to be vulnerable and not necessarily cut a stereotypical pro wrestling promo, that’s a great opportunity. And that’s not anything against a stereotypical pro wrestling promo–those can be great, too.

“We want to create change and bring in new ideas. And we should be doing more interviews when you lose. You can tell a different story when you lose a match. That leads to the bigger picture. The way we tell our stories, it needs to keep evolving.”

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Justin Barrasso
JUSTIN BARRASSO

Justin Barrasso has been writing for Sports Illustrated since 2014. While his primary focus is pro wrestling and MMA, he has also covered MLB, NBA, and the NFL. He can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.

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