Tony Khan Addresses How Much ‘Final Countdown’ Cost For Bryan Danielson’s Entrance

AEW

At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, Bryan Danielson came out to the familiar sound of Final Countdown and Tony Khan has addressed the cost.

The track by Swedish rock band Europe was used by Danielson in Ring of Honor and during his runs on the independent scene.

During the Forbidden Door post-show media scrum, Danielson revealed that he hadn’t heard the song since his ROH days with the AEW star noting that the band “want a ton of money” to use the track.

The track had been a source of discussion between Danielson and Tony Khan in 2021, as previously reported, with Danielson revealing:

“I hate talking business stuff when I don’t exactly know what it was, but it wasn’t just the amount of money. They would only let (AEW) play it like 20 times a year or something like that.

“For several $100,000 you can play ‘Final Countdown’ 20 times a year. That doesn’t work for us.”

On June 21, 2023, it was reported that Primary Wave Music had acquired a portion of Joey Tempest’s music catalog that would include The Final Countdown.

Although there’s no details as to whether the Primary Wave Music acquisition has substantially reduced the cost of licensing the track, Tony Khan did reveal details during the media scrum.

According to the AEW CEO, the licence cost “as much as a wrestler’s contract”.

The rights have, however, been granted “in perpetuity” which would mean that it is reusable in the AEW video library.

AEW has posted the entrances for the first-time-ever encounter between Danielson and Okada, and you can watch them below this news story.

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• Final Countdown
• Forbidden Door
• Bryan Danielson
• AEW

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