Aubrey Edwards remembers requesting to referee Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. at AEW WrestleDream

Photo Courtesy: All Elite Wrestling

Edwards sent the text as soon as she saw the match announcement.

For two consecutive years, Bryan Danielson was on the marquee at AEW’s WrestleDream pay-per-views. In 2023, he clashed with Zack Sabre Jr. in their first of two singles matches.

That bout was spoken about by Aubrey Edwards, who was the referee for it. Justin Dhillon of The Wrestling Classic conducted an interview with Edwards and she shared that she requested to be the official for the match.

Edwards often officiates Chris Jericho’s matches so at WrestleDream, she had to stay in the ring for an hour because the bout Jericho was in followed Danielson versus Sabre Jr.

I think the one (match I’ve refereed) that stands out the most in my mind is WrestleDream last year with Bryan Danielson versus Zack Sabre Jr. I remember when it got announced. I was actually at N.E.W., and I saw the graphic backstage and immediately text Paul Turner who’s our senior official and does all the assignments. I go, ‘Paul, I know I don’t ask for anything often. But this was literally my dream match before I ever stepped into the ring so can I please (have) this? Please?’ And he said, ‘Sure, yeah, no problem’ and then the day of, we actually found out that it was right before the (Chris) Jericho match. So I had to do an hour straight in the ring for that show, and I was sick the weekend before so I could only breathe out of one nostril. Both of my matches went extremely well so I’m like, ‘Dude, this is my Jordan flu game. This is awesome.’

At the 2024 WrestleDream pay-per-view, Danielson’s full-time in-ring career was put to an end when Jon Moxley defeated him for the AEW World Championship.

Danielson was stretchered out of the venue after a beat down from The Death Riders. He has not been on AEW programming since.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit The Wrestling Classic with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.

About Andrew Thompson 9776 Articles
A Washington D.C. native and graduate of Norfolk State University, Andrew Thompson has been covering wrestling since 2017.