Bryan Danielson and Hangman Page went to a 60-minute time limit draw at AEW Winter Is Coming.
Danielson is no stranger to 60-minute matches, having wrestled three time limit draws in ROH in 2006. When he signed with WWE 2009, Danielson had shorter matches due to television constraints, though he did wrestle in a handful of lengthy pay-per-view contests and went nearly 30 minutes with AJ Styles on WWE SmackDown in 2020.
Speaking to the Asbury Park Press, Danielson discussed going 60-minutes with Hangman Page.
"If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that I would do a 60-minute match on television, I would have been like, ‘Where’s that happening?’" Danielson said. "So I’ve had some really cool surprises this year.”
The bout with Page marked Danielson's second time limit draw in AEW as he went to a 30-minute draw with Kenny Omega in his first-ever AEW bout.
Speaking about AEW using time limit draws, Danielson said, "It’s just a story device, right? And it’s interesting to me in the sense of in sporting events, and especially when you’re looking at MMA or boxing and the idea that there are draws in boxing and there are draws in MMA ... Usually what it does is it’s a mechanism to lead to a rematch."
AEW President Tony Khan said after the bout that Danielson is still the top contender for the AEW World Title and there will be a rematch between Danielson and Page.
Danielson has embraced his heel side in the feud with Page, who became one of the biggest babyfaces in AEW during his feud with Omega leading up to AEW Full Gear.
When discussing his character in AEW, Danielson said, "If you’re used to seeing me in WWE, this is a pretty radical departure. I came in with the attitude that I’m the best, and you’re going to have to prove to me that I’m wrong. One of the cool things to me about wrestling is that we all have these different aspects of our personality and different things that we think and in polite society (feel that) ‘Oh you can’t say that’ or ‘You can’t do this’ or whatever. 'It’s just not polite,' or whatever it is. And I think the fun part about wrestling is both as a good guy or as a bad guy, you get to explore those different thought processes. I’m sure actors think the same thing, but they don’t get to come up with their own lines. It’s like the joy that I experience wrestling, whether as a good guy or a bad guy, I think it just kind of bleeds through. To me, it’s not like, ‘This is where I do my evil smile, ha ha ha, this will really get 'em.’ No, it’s usually coming from a real place of joy and me enjoying what I do. I’m very lucky that I love what I do."
You can find highlights from the Danielson vs. Page bout by clicking here.
Fightful has live coverage of AEW Dynamite beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
