Kevin Sullivan: If I’m Tony Khan, I’m Turning To Bryan Danielson And Betting The Farm On Him

Kevin Sullivan gives his thoughts on Bryan Danielson being touted by Tony Khan as someone he would trust to run All Elite Wrestling in his absence. 

“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson is seen as a locker room leader in AEW. Tony Khan also recently named Bryan the person he would tell his father to allow to run the company in his absence. 

Now, Kevin Sullivan, one of the most storied bookers in modern wrestling history, has given his thoughts on Khan’s faith in Danielson, stating that he believes Danielson is an excellent option to help behind the scenes despite never having interacted with Bryan. 

“I’ve heard that Bryan Danielson is gonna get more involved, correct? I don’t know Bryan Danielson at all, but he seems very smart.  I’ll tell you why. He got over when they didn’t want him to get over in WWE. I always hear the, ‘Well, it was organic.’ Bullshit. This guy had a plan, and he stuck to it,” Sullivan said on his most recent Tuesday with the Taskmaster podcast. “He is obviously a very positive person, and he believes in himself. After he became champion, I started to watch him. He’s damn good. When it’s all said and done, and they talk about Mount Rushmore, he’s going to be on somebody’s Mount Rushmore guaranteed. I think he’ll do an amazing job backstage. I don’t think we’ll see any more physicalities. I don’t think we’ll see any screwy matches that don’t make sense. He grew up in the wrestling business, very hard. I mean, he was an independent guy for a long time. I’m sure he heard that he wasn’t big enough for a long time. To me, I don’t think they could have chosen a better guy to step into this slot. He seems to be able to handle adversity, and he also seems to be a guy that’s very level-headed. That can get guys to sit down and talk before something explodes I’m really looking forward to seeing what he does. I know that he’s going to do an incredible job.” 

Following the termination of CM Punk’s contract, Tony Khan and Bryan Danielson have also spoken about Bryan becoming more of a fixture on AEW Saturday Collision. Sullivan also says that he believes Danielson is the perfect guy to place into that role as well. 

“There are people in the wrestling business that are smart because they love the wrestling business, but they keep up with reading. They keep up with what’s going on in the real world. They keep up with musical trends. They keep up with any kind of fad that’s going on, but he’s basically one of the great technical performers. He can give you any kind of match. I can’t say enough about him because they have a lot of guys there that they could have overlooked Bryan Danielson, but Tony made the right decision here, and if I was in Tony’s place to straighten up a sinking ship, he’s the guy I would go to, and I’m betting the farm on him. I think he’ll turn this thing around, I think we’ll see a different kind of style, I think we’ll see shows that are tied together. I think we’ll see angles that have never been done before because I know in his brain, he’s been thinking about angles that [are] different since the day he broke into the business,” Sullivan said. 

Fans can read Bryan Danielson’s thoughts on stepping up when necessary here. 

Eric Bischoff, someone who worked very closely with Kevin Sullivan and WCW, also said he’d give AEW’s Saturday show to Bryan Danielson. Read more here. 

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