Bryan Danielson Retires and Biggest Takeaways from AEW WrestleDream 2024 Results

The Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington was booming for WrestleDream, a night defined by a major moment for the future of All Elite Wrestling.

Bryan Danielson put his career and AEW World Championship on the line against a dangerous and motivated Jon Moxley. The Death Rider knocked out The American Dragon cold to put it all to an end.

With the help of a shocking turn by Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita stole the International Championship from Will Ospreay in an incredible triple threat including Ricochet.

Mariah May, The Young Bucks, Jack Perry and Mark Briscoe managed to escape with their gold against game competition.

Jay White picked up the biggest win of his career against. Hologram continued his undefeated streak by defeating a game Beast Mortos.

These were just some of the highlights of an action-packed night that continued AEW's pay-per-view hot streak. The following are the major takeaways from the night.

AEW still has not found a clear direction for The Outrunners, but Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd have gotten the entire audience behind them.

This Tacoma crowd was hot for much of WrestleDream, but the first big reaction from the fans was for The Outrunners in a largely meaningless eight-man tag.

While some may still see The Outrunners as a pure comedy duo, a small evolution could push them all the way to the AEW Tag Team Championships.

Much like one of their tag team partners tonight, Orange Cassidy, popularity is the most important factor in taking a character to the next level, no matter the origin.

At WrestleDream 2023, Hangman Adam Page and Swerve Strickland went out intending to make The Mogul look like he could hang at a main event level. It succeeded, and Swerve became a world champion within the year.

At WrestleDream 2024, The Cowboy and Jay White went out trying to make The Switchblade look like he could hang at a main event level. It once again succeeded.

White and Page have chemistry that genuinely rivals what The Cowboy had with Swerve. For that reason, this is likely only the beginning for this feud.

No matter where it leads though, Switchblade had never had a match like this in AEW. He has never received a reaction like this in AEW. He has never picked up a win like this in AEW.

While The Switchblade has found the greatest success in New Japan Pro-Wrestling already, it only now finally feels like he is ready to reach for that same ceiling.

Likely, the end of The Switchblade's journey in this coming year will also involve championship gold.

On November 8, 2023, Mariah May debuts to little fanfare. She cut a short promo about herself and her love of Toni Storm.

No one had any idea what May would become over the next year as she aligned herself with Storm before turning on her in a brutal memorable fashion.

She delivered one of the best women's matches in AEW's history with Storm at All In, and May has not let up as AEW women's world champion.

She delivered another incredible match with Willow Nightingale that stands amongst the best in both women's careers, showing why they are the top heel and face in the division.

This rookie year in AEW has been nothing less than spectacular and changed the perspective of women's wrestling in the company.

No one will soon outpace the work May did in her first year in the company, but hopefully, many women will look to try as this division continues to grow.

After a solid Jack Perry vs. Katsuyori Shibata match for the TNT Championship, Daniel Garcia backed up his word and came out to confront The Scapegoat while protecting his friend.

Garcia is perfectly suited for carrying a workhorse championship like the TNT Championship, and he would be the perfect man to dethrone Perry, keeping the future of AEW in conflict as they grow together.

Red Death signed with AEW to further his journey in a company that has never fully pushed him to the top.

There is no more time to waste. Even if Garcia has to deal with MJF first, Red Death must take that TNT Championship sooner rather than later.

At All Out, MJF won the fight with Daniel Garcia but still got taken out of action for a month in the aftermath. WrestleDream was supposed to be his moment of revenge.

Instead, Adam Cole returned to spoil his moment and sent The Salt of the Earth packing.

It has been just over a year since Cole injured his ankle at Grand Slam. While he appeared occasionally in the time since, he is only now ready to return to in-ring action.

It looks like Cole will be renewing his rivalry with MJF. While the last time these two interacted, MJF was the face, and Cole was the heel.

However, the clear agenda of The Undisputed Kingdom has always been to take MJF out of AEW, so it makes sense for him to adjust to MJF's current role.

Still, the perspective of MJF and Cole has soured considerably in the past year. Both will need to prove they can make this story relevant on a grittier product that has seemingly evolved beyond the antics of Better Than You Bay-Bay.

Will Ospreay, Ricochet and Konosuke Takeshita are three of the best athletes in the world today, and all AEW fans expected something special from this trio.

These men delivered on a contest that never let up. It was athletic, intense and energized. The sequences they delivered may be impossible for any other trio of wrestlers in the world today.

While this match will certainly receive certain backlash for its heavy reliance on big athletic spots, triple threats are driven by the action more than typical singles matches.

For that reason, Ospreay vs. Ricochet vs. Takeshita stands amongst the greatest triple threats in wrestling history like AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe, John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins and The Rock vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker.

This was certainly one of the major highlights of a stacked show.

Konosuke Takeshita is one of the best wrestlers in the world today. He proved it against Kenny Omega. He proved it against Bryan Danielson. He proved it against Will Ospreay.

In a company that consistently lives by the tag "where the best wrestle", it is hard to explain why it took this long for The Alpha to get AEW gold.

This should be a lengthy reign for Takeshita who has plenty of big rivals he has not fought yet.

Takeshita was the very first opponent for Ospreay once his official in-ring debut as a member of the AEW roster, and he was also the man to dethrone The Aerial Assassin as International champion.

Even if it took too long, this was an emphatic moment that should only be the beginning of The Alpha taking over AEW.

Orange Cassidy only competed on the Zero Hour of WrestleDream, but he did appear in a surprise interview where Jerry Lynn called out Freshly Squeezed as a once-in-a-lifetime type of performer.

After starting as a comedy wrestler, Cassidy has steadily risen up the ranks. His International Championship reign remains the defining run for that title.

However, he has yet to contend for the AEW World Championship in one-on-one action in his entire career.

Lynn's speech clearly pointed to the idea that Cassidy could be the top man in AEW, holding the world championship.

Even if it takes until later 2025, the first stone has been cast, and Cassidy is ready to stand tall at the apex of this company.

Swerve Strickland is back, and he has fallen into the sights of The Hurt Syndicate.

MVP made his intentions to sign The Mogul in his AEW debut, but Shelton Benjamin further emphasized that Swerve needed to join or be taken out.

Swerve was not willing to give up on his "family" Prince Nana, thus this potential partnership has become a rivalry.

It was easy to expect this could be the night that Bobby Lashley arrived to destroy Swerve. Instead, the focus was on Shelton Benjamin, who was not afraid to step up to The Mogul.

Throughout his career, Shelton has played a valuable midcard role in his biggest moments. However, he has always had the talent to do more.

There is a reason that Swerve very clearly established how much Shelton's career has meant to him.

This segment made Shelton look like a dangerous man, waiting to be unleashed. After all that he has done for the wrestling industry, Shelton deserves this spot and should not be lost in the mix with The All Mighty does (likely) arrive.

Hologram debuted for AEW in July 2024. Since that time, he has gone on the longest winning streak in the company, up to 15 wins through WrestleDream.

While Hologram has delivered in the ring, he has mostly worked on Collision. This work did not translate to the Tacoma crowd who took a while to get into his match against The Beast Mortos.

This was a great two-out-of-three fall match that never fully sold its reason for making a stacked WrestleDream card due to limited crowd investment.

It is important that the luchador is presented more on Dynamite and given a clear rival going forward if he is going to become AEW's new top luchador.

AEW has relied upon stables for its entire five-year run, but not all groups have stood out equally. House of Black has stood as an ultimate what-if for a long time.

Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews and Brody King did capture the Trios Championships together and deliver as champions, but none have gotten close to single success.

Julia Hart did hold the TBS Championship, though an injury slowed her too much to deliver the title reign she wanted.

King has quietly become the most popular member of the House of Black, but he still stands as only the enforcer for the House of Black.

His performance against Darby Allin at WrestleDream emphasized why he must be more than the big man behind Malakai.

He will not grow more unless he steps out of that shadow and forges his path as a top singles bruiser.

Isiah Kassidy and Marq Queen delivered in the most important of either man's career. This felt eerily similar to when The Acclaimed stepped up to Swerve in Our Glory at All Out 2022.

By the closing stretch of this match, the crowd went from apathetic to completely behind the challengers. The crowd wanted that moment for Private Party.

However, Private Party did far more than was expected in a match where few expected the team with limited credibility to actually win.

By falling just short, Kassidy and Quen showed how close they are and can re-evaluate before getting a rematch against The Young Bucks that can lead to the title change.

Matthew and Nicholas Jackson certainly played a big role in selling this moment for the challengers, delivering another strong performance as champions.

The rematch on the right stage could be truly cathartic. AEW cannot afford to move on to another challenger before Private Party gets another shot (perhaps with the help of a new manager Stokely Hathaway).

Mark Briscoe has long stood in the shadow of Jay Briscoe. While Mark has always been talented, Jay was one of the best to ever step into a wrestling ring.

When Jay passed away in January 2023, it touched so many across the wrestling landscape. The loss of such a talented and good man shook many.

More than a year later, Mark still carries the weight of his brother's legacy, even while holding the ROH World Championship.

His feud with Chris Jericho going into WrestleDream never needed to be about Jay. It should have only been about Mark.

The obvious intention of The Learning Tree was to let Mark show his worth beyond Jay, but fans of Mark always knew that he could be his own man.

Hopefully, this is the last time anyone in AEW or ROH feels the need to throw out Jay's name for heat in feuding with Mark.

Bryan Danielson is one of the absolute greatest in-ring technicians to ever step into a wrestling ring. In every company he has ever worked in, The American Dragon has risen to the top for a reason.

It is a shame that he came to AEW near the end of his career, leaving him limited time to main event as the AEW world champion.

Luckily, he still did get that chance and had the opportunity to tell the stories he wanted to tell in the ring, including this final match against Jon Moxley.

This was the story of a man who refuses to give up and the man who knows him better than anyone else wanting to put him out of his misery.

It was an incredible war that sold every second of The American Dragon's fight for his career. Few matches have had this much emotion in every moment.

It ultimately played out as The Death Rider choked out Danielson with the bulldog and ended the full-time career of his long-time friend and rival. Wheeler Yuta followed up by choking out his mentor with a plastic bag.

It is always possible that The American Dragon wrestles more matches before he completely retires, but this was the end of his time as a full-time wrestler.

This is the last time he will likely hold any championship or main event in a professional wrestling company. It is the end of an era for a talent that will not be soon replaced.