Bryan Danielson is extremely happy that the rematch against Nigel McGuinness was finally able to happen.

Having fought each other in Ring of Honor multiple times in the early 2000s, when both men were back in the same company once more many fantasy booked a match between them both but were unsure as to whether it would actually happen.

With McGuinness seemingly retired and Danielson missing the first All In due to a broken arm, it looked like the match that many wanted was sadly not going to happen. However, following Nigel McGuinness making his shock comeback to the ring at Wembley Stadium in the Casino Gauntlet match and later announcing he would wrestle The American Dragon at Grand Slam, fans were delighted that both men got the match they wanted.

Kicking off the Dynamite edition of Grand Slam on September 25th, McGuinness once again looked like he hadn’t lost a step as he battled Danielson inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. While McGuinness came up short that night, it will no doubt be a night he will never forget.

Appearing on The Nikki and Brie Show alongside his wife Brie Garcia, the World Champion looked back on the match and how they elevated each other in the earlier years of their career:

I had another really cool thing that happened on Wednesday is I got to wrestle Nigel McGuinness and a lot of people might not know Nigel McGuinness but, he was somebody that — we really helped make each other on the independent scene and that sort of thing and then he had a lot of injuries and all that kind of stuff and then he hasn’t wrestled — he hadn’t done a singles match in 13 years.

Continuing to praise his former rival, Danielson also recounted a conversation he had with McGuinness ahead of the match and admitted it was something he should have also done:

He’s 48 years old and we just wrestled at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday and I mean, it was really cool and really special and for somebody who hasn’t wrestled in 13 years, he did fantastic, and it was so neat and it was so cool and it was so special… He flew out his daughter. He did something we (Danielson & Brie Garcia) should have done. Nigel said, ‘Hey, would you mind meeting my daughter beforehand? So that she can know that we’re friends and we’re not actually hurting each other out there’ and as soon as he told that to me, I was like, oh my gosh. We should have totally done that for (our children).

Now cleared to compete and still in possession of the World Championship, Danielson is next scheduled to be in action on the 5th-anniversary special of Dynamite against Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada on October 2nd, where both titles will be on the line for the first 20 minutes, then just Danielson’s in time remaining.

Providing Danielson retains the title, the World Champion’s next defence will be at WrestleDream against Jon Moxley, who suffocated his former friend with a plastic bag at All Out. Moxley also earned the right to become the new number one contender by defeating Darby Allin in the main event of AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam.

H/t to Post Wrestling.