Bryan Danielson has recounted a conversation with Vince McMahon in 2021 ahead of officially signing with AEW.
In May 2021, Danielson’s WWE contract expired, with him soon heading to AEW for a September 5 debut at All Out.
Danielson has now revealed the conversation he had with Vince McMahon before signing with AEW.
Speaking to Nick Stav, Danielson revealed he had been in contact with McMahon as late as August and even just a few days before his AEW arrival, highlighting their relationship, saying:
“When WWE found out that I hadn’t signed yet, they said, ‘Is there anything we can do to make you…’
“If that (AEW debut) was September 5, I called Vince in early August and let him… because I was going back and forth. I wasn’t sure.
“I called Vince, because he and I had a really good relationship. I called him in early August and let him know, ”Okay, I’ve made my decision, I’m gonna do this.’
“He had called me like one time kind of in the meantime and said like, ‘Hey, what if we offered you this instead?’ That sort of thing.
“I hadn’t signed my contract yet, it was like a couple, maybe five days before the pay-per-view, he called me, and this is just what I told him, I said, ‘Sir, I’ve already agreed to this thing, and if I was suddenly to go back on this – I feel like you have a decent amount of respect for me, would you still respect me if I… like, one of the things that you respect about me is that I honor my word.’
“But it was a great conversation. And he said, ‘Dammit, you’re right.'”
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During his time in WWE, Danielson, then known as Daniel Bryan, held the WWE Championship four times, the World Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental Championship, the United States Championship and both the WWE Tag Team Championship and its SmackDown counterpart.
In AEW, he is a former World Champion and was recently confirmed to be taking a full-time commentary role.
Danielson’s full-time in-ring career ended with his AEW World Championship loss to Jon Moxley at WrestleDream in October 2024.
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