Daniel Garcia did not defeat Maxwell Jacob Friedman at AEW All Out 2024 but he did put a good enough beatdown on him after the match that MJF hasn’t been seen since.
The problem is that Garcia also hasn’t been seen since.
Daniel Garcia’s return at AEW All In 2024 felt like a triumphant moment for him in All Elite Wrestling, a way for him to get back from the injury inflicted by MJF and maybe move up the ranks to be on the level of an MJF in a pay per view match.
Red Death Past
Good things have been promised, or at least predicted, for Daniel Garcia since his entry into AEW back in 2020. As one of the hottest independent wrestlers at the time under the age of 25 in America and getting a few NXT tryouts as well, he was one of the more hotly contest names on the free agency market for AEW to sign.
Since 2021, Garcia has been a steady climb of bigger and bigger opponents first proving he can hang with them, and then hopefully trying to defeat them. In 2021 he faced Jon Moxley, Darby Allin, CM Punk, and Eddie Kingston. All hard fought matches on television to prove what potential he had.
Aligning with Matt Menard and Angelo Parker early on, the three would lose a match to The Inner Circle in early 2022. That match would set in motion the three actually joining Chris Jericho in the Jericho Appreciation Society. Garcia seemed to have a choice between Jericho’s celebration of sports entertainment or Bryan Danielson and the Blackpool Combat Club’s focus on pro wrestling excellence.
Garcia choosing JAS over BCC was considered a controversial move at the time primarily because Garcia seemed to fit like a glove in BCC. But BCC wouldn’t exactly do anything for Garcia he wasn’t already doing. Garcia was a fine wrestler. Maybe it would make him a better wrestler, but it would also keep any of his weaknesses still weak. Joining JAS helped Garcia get better on the mic, open himself up more, and work on his charisma. He didn’t stop being a good wrestler in the Jericho Appreciation Society. He just became a better rounded character in AEW.
Garcia and the JAS would feud with Blackpool Combat Club, with Garcia eventually beating Bryan Danielson at Fight for the Fallen by referee’s decision. Danielson would challenge him later to a two out of three falls match and defeat Garcia. It still felt like at this point, Garcia was no longer just a young wrestler making a name for himself and was now on the track for something bigger.
Daniel Garcia would defeat Wheeler Yuta for the Ring of Honor Pure Championship on Dynamite two weeks later, essentially beating the man who had the spot in BCC that people thought Garcia should have taken. Garcia’s next big win wouldn’t be until February of 2023 when he beat Ricky Starks in the Garcia-Guevara Gauntlet Challenge, which would be unfortunately erased by a Ricky Starks win on Rampage days later.
Garcia would get more high profile matches from beating Brody King at St. Patrick’s Day Slam to his losses to Adam Cole, Orange Cassidy for the AEW International Championship, Roderick Strong, and the International Four Way at Forbidden Door in Toronto, Ontario.
Menard, Parker, and Garcia would work trios for a good chunk of 2023 before Daniel Garcia got a shot against MJF for the AEW Men’s World Championship on Dynamite in November. It was a decent match that showed Garcia had improved as an all-around wrestler, but he still really didn’t take that next step yet. Garcia would say that match greatly influenced him to try to become better than he was now.
Garcia would enter the Continental Classic, unfortunately losing four out of five matches. He would defeat Brody King to prevent himself going 0-5, once again showing he has an advantage on the big man. It was a new year in 2024 for Daniel Garcia, and a lot hoped this would be the year he’d find singles gold around his waist.
Red Death Present
Garcia would get a major shot against Christian Cage at Revolution 2024 for the TNT Championship only to fail in securing the win. Later on, Adam Copeland, who Garcia fought to a no contest prior to the match against Christian, would win the TNT Championship. Copeland would get injured later in a match with Malakai Black. I don’t have the book in front of me but I feel like the plan was for Copeland to face Daniel Garcia again for the TNT Championship, and that be the match that Daniel Garcia finally wins his big singles championship in AEW. A passing of the torch from Adam Copeland. It never got to happen, if it was supposed to happen.
Daniel Garcia absolutely felt like he had a plan fall through after March because he did a whole lot of nothing. It wouldn’t be until MJF returned and Daniel Garcia would be the one who essentially greeted him back would he have a real role again and something that felt like upward growth.
MJF would try to give Daniel Garcia a match against him at AEW All In 2024 only for Will Ospreay to come out and challenge Garcia to face him for the AEW International Championship. Garcia would lose the match to Ospreay a week later, partially due to MJF meddling, and then would lose months in his career to MJF giving Daniel Garcia a brutal beatdown.
MJF would win the AEW International Championship from Ospreay only to lose it to Ospreay in the match he wanted to have against Daniel Garcia. He’d instead have that match at All Out.
Outside the ring, the talk is that Daniel Garcia’s contract with All Elite Wrestling is about to expire. WWE apparently looks at Daniel Garcia as the next great technical wrestler, and with Garcia still only 25-years-old, this is a great opportunity for him to set himself for the rest of his career financially by pitting AEW and WWE against each other.
At one point WWE thought Daniel Garcia was going back to AEW, to the point where people in WWE were complaining about the offer Garcia received as being bad for the sport. But now it seems like things with AEW are so that the finish of All Out was changed because Garcia has yet to sign and they didn’t want a guy about to walk out to beat MJF.
Red Death Future
For the past few years it has been WWE wrestlers leaving and joining AEW. In 2024 we’ve seen some former AEW talents switching to WWE. First Cody Rhodes, then Jade Cargill, and now it is believed that the Lucha Brothers are also going to WWE from AEW. Daniel Garcia, a young talent who has essentially got a lot of his growing pains out in AEW, going to WWE a more polished worker would be a loss to the company. Would it be a major loss?
A lot about Daniel Garcia is potential, and he has absolutely tons of it. He’s also still rough on promos (most AEW talents under 35 are) and while he absolutely has the AEW fans love and attention, Garcia still has a lot to learn. My biggest issue with him isn’t on the charisma front but his wrestling. It’s not like Garcia has been having the best matches in the company. Would someone consider him Top 10 in the men? Top 20? It’s arguable. If you’re asking me the best 25-year-old male on the AEW roster in ring I’m not saying Daniel Garcia. I’m saying Kyle Fletcher.
But he’s also 25. You shouldn’t expect a finished product out of a 25-year-old. Especially not in the ring. It would hurt significantly the perception of AEW if they are losing young stars they tried to develop before they actually get to their potential. Fans have already spent time seeing Daniel Garcia as an AEW regular, and seeing him go to WWE will feel like when WCW was getting the big time old stars of WWF while WWF was taking the Paul Wight’s and Chris Jericho’s of the roster.
What’s best for Daniel Garcia’s career? People love to say to always take the money, but I mean, two sides are offering big money. You’re getting paid either way. Which company is going to give you the better opportunity to develop and become a superstar?
If you look at Jade Cargill, they haven’t made her a better wrestler. Brian Pillman Jr., now Lexis King, is absolutely terrible in the ring despite all the reps he’s getting in NXT (people are also convinced he’s basically being embarrassed intentionally for being a bad signing). Ethan Page isn’t showing anything as NXT Champion he didn’t show on the indies or in TNA Wrestling or AEW. That isn’t a company that knows how to make anyone a better pro wrestler. They simply have a bigger stage.
Garcia going to WWE would essentially mean he’d be one of their best young prospects and would certainly be a better pro wrestler than most on the roster, but he’d also be in a company that doesn’t prioritize wrestling at all. He’d probably have a few good matches with Gunther and Ilya Dragunov and then enjoy the fate that Andrade El Idolo has been dealing with: Twitter wrestling matches under three minutes.
Meanwhile in AEW? Garcia is already being put on a level with MJF. He is on the cusp of winning an AEW singles championship, and I have said in the past I see him being the perfect contender to beat Jack Perry for the TNT Championship. In WWE it’s starting new. In AEW it’s picking up where he left off.
I should also add, once again, he’s only 25. If he went to the WWE for three years, he could come back to AEW and still be in his 20s. And if I was being cynical? That might be his best chance at becoming a main eventer in All Elite Wrestling.
Daniel Garcia has a decision to make. It all depends on what he wants for his pro wrestling career for the next few years. Does he want to keep developing as a professional wrestler and be the replacement of Bryan Danielson, or does he want to just be a Disney on Ice mascot pretending to be a pro wrestling replacement of Bryan Danielson? Either way, he’s young, and at his age? He’s allowed to make a few mistakes before his 30s.
