This was before Danielson headlined WrestleMania 30 and captured the industry’s attention with his breathtaking work. It was the summer of 2010, and Danielson was only a month removed from getting let go by WWE.
Unlike the encounter in 2010, these are no longer two hungry young wrestlers looking to make their mark in the industry. Danielson and Takagi are two of the industry’s most prominent stars, having left indelible marks in, respectively, the continents of North America and Asia. Danielson is in a pivotal stretch. Later this year, he will no longer wrestle a full-time schedule. Exactly how his wrestling future will unfold is yet-to-be-determined, but there is no denying that it will mark the conclusion of one of the most brilliant stretches in pro wrestling history.Since returning to the ring in 2018 after a two-year retirement, Danielson has exceeded every expectation.
Remarkably, Danielson has not won even once in his last 17 title matches. Those matches include title bouts in WWE, AEW, NXT, and Ring of Honor–and they all have one major commonality: Danielson did not come away with the belt.