Bryan Danielson is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. As a technician, he is unrivalled.
The Wrestling Observer award for the best wrestler has been named after him, due to his untold consecutive victories over his peers. He has main evented WrestleMania, battled foes in incredible matches, and unselfishly lost to any opponent that he thought needed to win more than him.
He is not just a five-star wrestler, but is a five-star man overall.
In this article, we will look at every five-star match awarded to AEW’s Bryan Danielson since he started his wrestling career in 1999.
The American Dragon has had some incredible bouts in his career so far and despite being only 41 years old has made a name for himself as one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of pro-wrestling.
Here are all the five star matches, as rated by Dave Meltzer, that have been awarded to Bryan Danielson (AKA Daniel Bryan).
We’ll also provide the Cagematch rating for the match and our own personal opinion on the match. When he received more five star matches, they will be added to this page so keep coming back to see just how good Bryan Danielson is in the ring.
Surprisingly, when wrestling as Daniel Bryan, he did not receive a single five-star review for his matches in the WWE.
Despite high-profile, highly regarded and beloved matches against top talent like John Cena, Triple H and Kofi Kingston, he was never ranked as high as others when he wrestled for Vince McMahon’s promotions. He also never got one in the years before WWE, decide some of the best matches ever when wrestling in Ring of Honor.
All of Bryan Danielson’s five star matches have come since he debuted in AEW in August 2021 and has continued to impress in the ring ever since.
Bryan Danielson Five Star Matches
Bryan Danielson vs Kenny Omega – AEW Grand Slam 2021
Bryan Danielson came into AEW with one express purpose, and that was to kick Kenny Omega’s head in. He debuted at AEW All Out 2021, interrupting the Elite and saving Christian from a beat down.
In the weeks following, he laid out the challenge to Kenny Omega. The match was set and two of the best wrestlers in a world would face of at Arthur Ashe Stadium at AEW Grand Slam 2021.
Kenny Omega vs Bryan Danielson had more hype behind it than any other match I’ve seen. The fans erupted into a frenzy of cheers when the bell ring to signal the start of the match, such was the incredible anticipation for this match.
After such build it, it seemed impossible that the match could live up to the hype. Somehow, it exceeded it.
The pair fought an incredibly paced match to an exciting thirty minute draw. As the bell rang to signal the end, the pair kept fighting, having to be held apart by their respective allies.
This set up beautifully for the rematch, which I’m sure will happen as soon as Kenny Omega returns from surgery.
This was, incredibly, the first time in his illustrious career that Dave Meltzer awarded Bryan Danielson a five star match.
In my view, it was his best match and one of the best matches of all time, but also that he has had many matches just in his WWE run that deserved that high rating as well. The match was awarded five stars by the Wrestling Observer and was voted in at a 9.57 rating by Cagematch users.
Bryan Danielson vs Adam Page – AEW Winter Is Coming 2021
Soon after his bout with Omega, Bryan Danielson pulled out all the stops in the attempt to take the AEW Championship off the new champion in “Hangman” Adam Page.
After going undefeated in the run up to the match, fans were expecting another five star performance when taking on another great worker in Page – and neither man did anything to convince the fans otherwise.
Danielson had a penchant for kicking heads in, and he put that skill to great use in the build up to his bout with Page. He systematically decimated the Dark Order en route to Winter is Coming, facing each member in their home town and, in his own words, kicking their heads in.
Danielson turned himself into the ultimate heel on the run up to the bout, luckily up against the ultimate babyface Adam Page.
Page had recently defeated Kenny Omega for the AEW Championship at Full Gear, completed a near three-year arch to become the top face in AEW. Unfortunately, Danielson was determined to end that reign and slot himself on the top of AEW.
Their match was highly anticipated, but blew expectations out of the water. They opened the show on AEW Dynamite, and to the surprise of everybody could not decide a winner.
The pair fought tooth and nail for 60 minutes, ending in a time limit draw after Adam Page almost knocked Bryan Danielson’s head off with a Buckshot Lariat. However, he could not capitalize, and the bell would ring before he managed to cover the challenger and win the match.
The match was the longest in AEW history, timing in at exactly 60 minutes. It beats matches like the Stadium Stamped and Blood and Guts to become the longest AEW match of all time.
It was also one of the highest rated match every in AEW, earning an astonishing five-star rating for the second time in Danielson’s short AEW career. Many people on Cagematch agreed, awarding the bout a 9.54 rating, coming in just a hair below his match with Omega.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 5 Stars
- Cagematch Rating -9.54
- Atletifo Rating – 5 Stars
The Jericho Appreciation Society vs Bryan Danielson, Eddie Kingston, Jon Moxley, Ortiz & Santana – AEW Double or Nothing 2022
The third five star match in this list comes in the first multi-man bout to earn five stars – the chaotic and violent “Anarchy in the Arena” match.
In the never ending feud with the Jericho Appreciation Society, Danielson teamed with Blackpool Combat Club teammate Jon Moxley and the trio of Eddie Kingston, Ortiz and Santana in a match designed with anarchy in mind – no rules, weapons and blood highly encouraged.
It was awarded five stars for the ridiculous violent action but it came at a price. Bryan Danielson suffered a concussion at the hands of Jericho which forced him to miss his Forbidden Door dream match against Zack Sabre Jr.
He was replaced by Claudio Castagnoli but the damage was done. It is the worst of Bryan Danielson’s five-star matches, being voted in at 9.06 rating on Cagematch.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 5 Stars
- Cagematch Rating -9.06
- Atletifo Rating – 5 Stars
Bryan Danielson vs Ricky Starks – AEW All Out 2023
Bryan Danielson returned months early from a broken arm to face Ricky Starks in a five-star match at AEW All Out 2023.
The American Dragon was drafted in to replace CM Punk in the match, who was fired one day before the event.
Danielson stepped in to face Ricky Starks in a strap match, even though his broken arm (suffered at the hands of Kazuchika Okada) had not yet healed enough for him to use in the match.
The match was unlike anything else on the card. The pair fought in a bloody, hard-hitting strap match that redefined what the match type could be in AEW.
Ricky Steamboat even got involved, hitting punches and chips onto Big Bill after he tried to get involved in the finish of the match.
At the end of a bloody war, Bryan Danielson made Ricky Starks pass out by choking him with the strap in the LaBelle lock.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 5 Stars
- Cagematch Rating -9.39
- Atletifo Rating – 5 Stars