Bryan Danielson finally had his first great match in Seattle.
Danielson picked up a win over Zack Sabre Jr. at AEW WrestleDream on Sunday night. Going into the match, Danielson told Kevin Diers of The Stranger, that he wanted to have a great match in Seattle, which was just two hours from his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington. Bryan said that he never got that chance with WWE, but saw his match with Zack Sabre Jr. at AEW WrestleDream as his first real chance.
“One of the things that escaped me my entire career was I’ve never felt like I’ve had a really great match in Seattle,” Danielson explained. “The whole time I was in WWE, whenever we’d come to Seattle, we would really just kind of be doing nothing. I’m really looking forward to this as being my first real chance to have a really great match and in front of what, to me, is my favorite crowd to wrestle in front of in the entire world.”
Danielson and Sabre Jr. ended up having a technical classic, with The American Dragon scoring the win after a running knee strike.
Results
Check out a recap of the match, courtesy of our live results page:
Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Danielson and Sabre Jr. feel each other out early on. The match is a stalemate in the early stages. Sabre Jr. goes for an arm-bar, but Danielson escapes. Danielson goes for the Indian Death-Lock. Sabre Jr. escapes, and the two technical masters briefly lock each other in a double crab hold.
ZSJ gains the upper hand briefly. Sabre Jr. strikes Danielson, who fires back with a forearm. They trade blows. Sabre Jr. stomps on Danielson’s arm. He snaps Danielson’s fingers and continues to control the action. Danielson rallies and traps Sabre Jr. in a single-leg crab. He stomps Sabre Jr.’s knee and kicks his leg. “The American Dragon” hits two dragon screw leg whips. He kicks Sabre Jr. some more. Danielson and Sabre Jr. battle on the top rope. Danielson hits an avalanche butterfly suplex. Sabre. Jr. escapes a single-leg crab. Danielson rocks Sabre Jr. with some kicks.
Danielson stomps Sabre Jr. Sabre Jr. dodges the running knee. They trade pin attempts. Sabre Jr. gets a two-count with a pin attempt. Danielson counters a pin and goes for the Cattle Mutilation, but Sabre Jr. evades it. Sabre Jr. traps Danielson in a heel hook. Danielson spits in Sabre Jr.’s face. They slap each other and kick each other. Sabre Jr. strikes Danielson’s arm.
Danielson targets Sabre Jr.’s leg. They keep battling. Sabre Jr. gets a two-count with a backslide and kicks Danielson’s arm. Sabre Jr. wrenches Danielson’s arm in a submission hold, but Danielson gets free. The NJPW continues to kick Danielson. Danielson nails Sabre Jr. with a kick to the head. Sabre Jr. traps Danielson in an arm-bar. Danielson suplexes his way out of it and hits the running knee for a two-count. Another running knee scores Danielson the win.
Winner: Bryan Danielson
