Mox ended Bryan’s career, then he tried again to take his life

Emotions were running high before the main event of WrestleDream. If Bryan Danielson lost the AEW World championship, he’s promised to retire from wrestling full-time (and possibly altogether, pending the results of neck surgery he’s putting off until dropping the belt). He was facing his old Blackpool Combat Club teammate Jon Moxley, who started his mysterious mission by attempting to murder Danielson at All Out.

WrestleDream was taking place in Danielson’s home state of Washington — Tacoma to be precise — and had just hugged some of his friends & family at ringside when Mox attacked. The American Dragon was still in his robe, and his “Final Countdown” theme still playing as Moxley got a camera cord from under the ring to choke Bryan with. It was all legal before the bell, which allowed Mox’s associate Marina Shafir to get involved. It also allowed the champ to return the favor, and continued to fight.

Even so, Moxley did everything he could to target the injured neck.

That included distracting referee Bryce Remsburg so Shafir could knee Bryan in the head repeatedly. The former MMA fighter also pulled up the padding between the ring and the ramp, a move that backfired when Danielson countered Moxley’s offense and dropped him back-first onto the concrete.

Returning to the ring, each man worked for submissions, with Mox landing strikes to the head while he had Bryan trapped in a bulldog choke. Danielson fired up with the crowd at his back as he called for a striking exchange. He won that and set-up for a Busaiku Knee when Shafir got involved again. Grabbing the Dragon’s foot allowed Moxley to hit a cutter, but it also led to Remsburg sending Marina to the back.

YES! Kicks and a LeBell Lock couldn’t put the challenger away, and when Mox rolled out Danielson took a risk. His dive got countered in a Death Rider onto the concrete..

…but by the time Mox got him back into the ring, Bryan kicked out. That started a stretch of nearfalls for both men, with the announcers selling each cover on the champ as possibly being the end of Danielson. A defiant Dragon spit in Moxley’s face before taking a Gotch Style Piledriver, but that defiance didn’t help when he was flattened out in the choke hold. Remsburg had no choice but to call for the bell as Danielson faded.

One of the best to ever do it is done.

But Mox and his crew weren’t. Claudio Castagnoli & PAC joined the new World champ in the ring. Mox handed the belt to Claudio, who put it in a black duffel bag. Then Mox produced a plastic bag, the same kind he used to attempt murder on Bryan back in Chicago. Darby Allin and Wheeler Yuta ran in to make the save, but it turns out Yuta — though conflicted — was still with his teammates.

Yuta helped tape Allin to the turnbuckles while the group turned their attention back to Danielson. First, Wheeler suffocated him with the plastic bag. Then, after fighting off a stream of people from the locker room including Private Party, Jeff Jarrett & Orange Cassidy, Mox & Castagnoli put Bryan’s neck in a steel chair, and Claudio stomped on it.

Officials and babyfaces eventually chased the villains from the ring as medics placed Danielson on a board to stretcher him out. Excalibur broke down in tears on commentary while Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone called the scene one of the worst things they’ve seen in their careers. Cassidy, Allin, Daniel Garcia, HOOK, Mark Briscoe, Adam Cole and others were seen looking distraught at ringside as the show ended.

Who knows where AEW goes from here… much of that will depend on Moxley finally revealing the reason behind his crusade. Wherever this goes though, it appears the career of one of the best to ever do it is done.

Get complete WrestleDream results and coverage of the entire show here.