AEW: Bryan Danielson on Kazuchika Okada Match, Aubrey Edwards on In-Ring Debut, Christian Cage

Bryan Danielson Comments on His Upcoming Match with Kazuchika Okada

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Bryan Danielson and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Kazuchika Okada. One of the topics discussed included Danielson’s thoughts about his upcoming match against Okada at this Sunday’s AEW & NJPW Forbidden Door II event.

“I wanted this match for so long without ever thinking it was a possibility. I started watching him while I was in WWE, but there was no place to go work where that match would ever be possible. Then AEW started. That’s why this is so special to me. I wanted it for so long, and it’s now actually going to happen.

When Okada first won the IWGP championship, he started having all these incredible matches with Tanahashi,” Danielson continued. “He started building this incredible legacy. The Tanahashi matches, the Kenny [Omega] matches, those stand out to me—their 60-minute one was just unbelievable. The matches with Shingo [Takagi], the matches with [Will] Ospreay, the matches with Zack Sabre Jr.

When I watch Okada, I’m watching one of the best of all time. Now I get to experience actually being in the ring with him. What’s that like? That’s what I get to find out.”

Okada also gave his thoughts about their upcoming match and his respect of Danielson.

“That is my strongest image of Bryan—when he was in Ring of Honor. I haven’t seen many of his matches since he went to WWE. When I saw the time limit draw he wrestled with Kenny Omega in AEW, I knew he and I could do something incredible.

I have respect for him. There’s no hate here. I think that’s the appeal—just pure, competitive wrestling.”

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Aubrey Edwards Comments on Talks for Her In-Ring Debut Started After AEW’s Double or Nothing 2023 Event

A recent episode of the Battleground Podcast featured AEW referee Aubrey Edwards as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Edwards revealing that AEW’s talks for her in-ring debut had started after this past May’s Double or Nothing 2023 event. Edwards also stated that she has no interest in having another wrestling match in the future.

“I mean, just to peel back the curtain a little bit, the story itself between me and Jeff Jarrett and his posse had kind of started sort of at our Seattle show back on January 4th where there was some sort of hullabaloo, the ref didn’t see the finish. We thought Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett had won the tag titles and then I run in because hey, I’m local and this is gonna get a big reaction from the crowd. I overturn the match, we restart and the heels end up losing so it’s kind of this thing and it kept kind of finding ways to weave itself together with everything we were doing whether I was reffing their matches or we’d have a ref bump, someone would run in, whatever it might be and that sort of culminated at Double or Nothing where I ended up getting hit in the head with a guitar and out of context, this is really fun to explain so, I’m glad people know this is a wrestling podcast… And it’s one of those things, with wrestling, it’s really important to have storytelling and long-term payoffs for our fans, right? So, it’s one thing to say, yeah, sure, we’re gonna hit a referee with a guitar and she’s gonna go down, but that’s cool in the moment but where does that go? And when you have the traditional heels and babyfaces, if the heels don’t get their comeuppance and the babyfaces don’t end up on top in the end, then you’ve really just upset your fans. Why are they getting invested then? This is traditional storytelling. We have three acts we follow. It’s as old as Shakespeare, even older, right? So from that, the moment of Double or Nothing where the guitar shot happened, that’s where we sort of started talking like, ‘Okay, well what is the next logical step for this?’ Then they asked if I was willing to wrestle and I said, ‘Dude, I can’t even lock up correctly.’ I’m a dancer and then 22 years of ballet didn’t teach me how to do a headlock takeover. Those moves don’t translate man (she laughed). Still physical, but very different form of entertainment and it just came down to like, ‘Well how can we really play this up? And how can we have fun with this?’ And it was really cool to get opportunities. I get to choke Karen out in a promo, I had a live promo on Rampage which was insane and then, it ended up coming down to the match which was great and it just felt really cool. It felt really cool, like the way we kind of structured everything. I went over with the Figure-Four but that’s also Jay Lethal’s move. So there’s like that little bit of meta-ness that the long-term fan really appreciate because they get it in the moment like, oh, this is that deeper story and that part of wrestling that’s really nice. It’s not just on the surface, who wins and loses but what are those little details that reward us as viewers watching this product for so long? It was cool, I’m glad it’s over, I’m retiring undefeated.

It’s official, I’m retiring from in-ring competition. Not being able to walk for like two days without pain. But yeah, it’s like I never wanna do that again.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

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Christian Cage Comments on Future of His Wrestling Career

A recent episode of the Swerve City podcast featured Christian Cage as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Cage’s thoughts on the goals he still has left for his wrestling career and his career’s future.

“Me coming back from being retire, it’s huge. It’s like a gift. I’m back and able to close this chapter on my own instead of being told it’s done. For me, I just want to do quality work. Whether it’s promos or in the ring. I’m very confident and okay and content with who I am as a performer and where I’ve been and where I’m going. Wherever I am on the show, I just do my best to make that segment entertaining and great, and I try not to do too much more. I just want to do quality work. During the pandemic, everything I was working on, on the side, kind of dried up and went away. I need something to work towards. I built a gym in my garage and just started working out there. From that, it snowballed. I learned a lot about diet and exercise. From that, I was introduced to some really good business friends and we came up with this concept for an exercise piece of equipment. It will be announced in a couple of months. Started an exercise company. Really looking forward to that.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com