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Bryan Danielson on The Blackpool Combat Club: ‘I Love This Group’

“It was actually John Cena who I first heard say this–you become the five people you spend the most time around.”

Justin Barrasso

Bryan Danielson on The Blackpool Combat Club: ‘I Love This Group’
Bryan Danielson on The Blackpool Combat Club: ‘I Love This Group’ /

SI.com’s Week in Wrestling is published every week and provides beneath the surface coverage of the business of pro .

Bryan Danielson remains on the injured list for AEW, but his mind remains exceptionally active.

Danielson, who fractured his forearm in his main event match against Kazuchika Okada at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view in June, underwent successful surgery a month ago where doctors installed a steel rod and nine screws. Remarkably, Danielson wrestled the last ten minutes of the match against Okada while injured. Yet, for those who know Danielson, the fact that he still found a way to flourish in the moment (and uphold his post-show media commitments) is not as shocking as it should be.

“I like to put myself in uncomfortable positions just to see if I can keep a good attitude,” says Danielson. “There’s been days when I didn’t eat just to see if I could keep a good attitude.”

Roughly a month before Forbidden Door, Danielson went hiking with Wheeler Yuta. The multi-purpose trip was to film a vignette where Danielson challenged Okada, as well as allow time for Danielson and Yuta to bond. Naturally, they connected through intense physical exercise.

“I did have Wheeler doing bridges and push-ups, but it wasn’t a punishment for anything,” says Danielson. “We were hiking and we both did it. I like to test my neck, which is probably not the most responsible thing to do, but I like to test myself for wrestling.”

The inclusion of Yuta in the Blackpool Combat Club has brought an infusion of youthful spirit into the group. Only 26, Yuta is 16 years younger than Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli, as well as 11 years younger than Jon Moxley. While he is less experienced than his three BCC partners, he is a vital piece to their success.

“I go in earlier with Wheeler to teach and train, and I also pick his brain as a younger wrestler,” says Danielson. “That makes me a better wrestler. Through the process of teaching, I’m becoming better. Wheeler joining the group has been good for him. It’s been good for the rest of us. Helping him with some things makes me realize I need to work on certain things.”

Moxley and Castagnoli teamed together in a Parking Lot Brawl last week on Rampage against The Best Friends’ Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor. Formerly a member of The Best Friends, Yuta’s new sense of viciousness in the BCC was on display when he got involved, taking a screwdriver to the head of Taylor, then later helped vandalize the van of Beretta’s mother Sue.

“The idea of Wheeler being with the Best Friends before, and now being with us, that makes us seem different,” says Danielson. “The idea is, when you join us, you can’t be that anymore. That kind of stuff is cool. I tried to get that across in one of my nights on commentary when Mox, Claudio, and Wheeler were wrestling The Best Friends and Rocky [on Dynamite in June]. My point was, those are the guys Okada hangs out with. Look at the guys I hang out with. That tells you so much.

“It was actually John Cena who I first heard say this–you become the five people you spend the most time around. So who do you want to become? The guys taking everything lightly? Or the guys, from a storyline perspective, taking this seriously and working to become the best?

“My real-life perspective is that wrestling can be a variety show. If everything was dead serious, I don’t think people would like it as much. And I’ve done a lot of comedy in my career. But that’s not the ethos right now of the BCC.”

Tonight on Dynamite, Moxley and Castagnoli wrestle The Lucha Bros., and Danielson will undoubtedly be watching. Danielson lists the BCC as some of the most rewarding work of his career. He is proud of the way the group evolved after William Regal left AEW, but the secret to that success was remaining true to himself and his partners.

“Our connection as a group feels real,” says Danielson. “That’s because it is. The story is we train together and we make each other better. The reality is that wrestling together, we do make each other better.”

“Even when Regal left, we didn’t break. And he’s still on our BCC group chat.”

Courtesy AEW
Courtesy AEW

There is a great deal left for Danielson to accomplish in AEW. That includes continuing his feud with Kazuchika Okada, and perhaps even settling an old score with Kenny Omega or Hangman Page, not to mention renewed battles with CM Punk and Samoa Joe. But for all the different possibilities, Danielson hopes that one piece which remains unchanged is the presence of the BCC.

“I love this group,” says Danielson. “This should be a group that never breaks up. Mox and I have wrestled since the BCC started, we wrestled in the championship tournament [last fall]. That didn’t cause any disturbances in the BCC. That’s the story of the BCC. When the BCC loses, we’ll shake hands and go back to training the next day.”

The (Online) Week in Wrestling

  • This past Monday’s Raw was fantastic, and finished with Shinsuke Nakamura turning on world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins. Three takeaways: 1-the title has completely redefined Raw; 2-Nakamura feuding with Rollins is a step up from the Slim Jim Battle Royal at SummerSlam; 3-A heel Nakamura has so much potential.
  • CM Punk defeated Ricky Starks on Collision, but Starks took out his frustration on special guest referee Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat after the match. Steamboat was treated like royalty–he flew to the show on Tony Khan’s private jet–and he still sells a beating like few others can do in wrestling.
  • Hikaru Shida closed out the 200th episode of Dynamite by defeating Toni Storm to become the new AEW women’s champion.

  • Eddie Kingston was eliminated from the G1 Climax, but that was a really fun run he can bring to the states.

  • Could this be the summer of Chad Gable? He is unlikely to dethrone IC champ Gunther, but it feels like the crowd is starting to get behind him.

Beyond Wrestling celebrating indie wrestling with eighth edition of signature show Americanrana

Beyond Wrestling’s annual Americanrana takes place this Sunday, bringing some of the nation’s best indie wrestling under one roof at White Eagle in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Airing on IWTV, Americanrana ‘23: Perfect Day features a plethora of rising stars, including Alec Price, B3CCA, Dustin Waller, and Kylon King. The main event is Price challenging Matt Tremont for the IWTV title, and the card also includes Richard Holliday against Brad Hollister, as well as AEW star Ortiz, who is the only wrestler to compete at every Americanrana going back to 2013.

Beyond founder and booker Drew Cordeiro is especially excited for this summer’s event, which is the eighth altogether. And while the talent may not be as recognizable right now as was the case in prior years, Cordeiro does not expect that to be the case for long.

“Americanrana is the biggest platform we have to show our next generation of wrestlers,” says Cordeiro. “We are rebuilding our very best roster with the most promising athletes we have access to. These are the guys and gals who will carry pro wrestling into the future. And the reason we’re rebuilding is because AEW has over 70 wrestlers that are actively signed who competed for Beyond Wrestling, and over 30 within the WWE system.”

An integral part of Beyond’s success is the creation of Wrestling Open. The vast majority of Beyond’s stars have signed with AEW or WWE, creating openings atop the card. Those spots have been filled by talent consistently working Wrestling Open, a weekly show that is built around developing talent.

“Last year’s Americanrana took place just as we introduced Wrestling Open,” says Cordeiro. “At the end of that broadcast, we saw Miracle Generation, Alec Price, and Ichiban confront some of the stars from AEW competing at that event. Now, a year later, we see Alec Price, Dustin Waller, and Kylon King in title matches at Americanrana, as well as Ichiban wrestling Ortiz. I’m really proud that all the hard work people are putting in on Wrestling Open is paying off.”

Americanrana will also showcase the wedding between Little Mean Kathleen and Love Doug. That is part of why this year’s card is entitled Perfect Day, though not the only reason–it also connects to Cordeiro’s introduction into indie wrestling.

“When I first got really into wrestling in the late 90’s, my friends were big into tape trading,” says Cordeiro, 38. “When they were trying to get independent wrestling and Japanese wrestling tapes, there was this backyard wrestling group called Garbage Everywhere Wrestling. When they’d duplicate the tapes they were trading, they’d include one of their backyard wrestling matches, as well. That inspired me and my friends to do our own backyard wrestling. That’s really the origin of all this. The Garbage Everywhere guys would do these ironic music videos, too, and they were these hard rock guys and they used the song Perfect Day. That song was on a few movie soundtracks, maybe even Legally Blonde, and it was fun to see those guys all decked out in black jeans and t-shirts doing backyard wrestling to this upbeat, peppy song. Since we’re doing the wedding for Love Doug and Little Mean Kathleen at Americanrana this year, I thought we could marry that idea together since it should be their perfect day.”

Another match on the show is a six-man that pits Ricky Shane Page against Atticus Cogar, which is a battle that should be a spectacle.

“They can hash things out at Americanrana,” says Cordeiro. “Ricky is one of the co-founders of Beyond Wrestling, and I’m really impressed with the way he has continued to evolve. I thought Ricky and Atticus really carried wrestling on an independent level through the pandemic. Ricky has some new friends from MLW, and Atticus has some old friends. Plus, there is Krule–the unofficial IWTV independent wrestling champion–with a first-time match against Sawyer Wreck. Who doesn’t want to see two big people beat each other up? That’s the heart of pro wrestling.”

Cordeiro is ready for the next generation of Beyond Wrestling to take center stage at Americanrana.

“Beyond Wrestling and Wrestling Open will always continue to exist to serve mainstream wrestling,” says Cordeiro. “By doing so, we will dictate the trends that will end up going to television.”

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Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.

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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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