Jason Burgos
In a new interview, Bryan Danielson revealed his former boss, Vince McMahon, actually made a last-ditch big-money offer to stop his jump from WWE to AEW four years ago.
AEW has signed many former WWE stars to its roster since the promotion launched in 2019. However, few are bigger than fan-favorite, and multi-time WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. His addition to the AEW roster sent shockwaves through the industry. Especially since it came just a few months after headlining WrestleMania 37.
Many assumed AEW made a better offer or that the wrestling legend known as Bryan Danielson just wanted a change of scenery in 2021. However, the former AEW Champion revealed this week that he was very interested in a return to WWE. However, by the time they made a serious offer to re-sign him, it was too late.
“When WWE found out that I hadn’t signed yet, they actually said, ‘Is there anything we can do?’” Danielson told Nick Stav. “I called Vince in early August, because I was going back and forth, and I had a really good relationship. I let him know, ‘Okay, I’ve made my decision and I’m gonna do this.’ Then he had called me, like one time, kind of in the meantime, and said like, ‘Hey, what if we offered you this instead?'”
“It was maybe five days before the pay-per-view, and he called me. And this is what I told him, I said, ‘Sir, I’ve already agreed to this thing, and if I were somebody to go back on this, I feel like you have a decent amount of respect for me. Would you still respect me?'” he added. “‘One of the things that you respect about me is I honour my word.’ But it was a great conversation and he said, ‘Damn it, you’re right.’”
How different wrestling history might be if the company had been able to hold to the leader of the “Yes!” movement. Instead, he went on to become a valuable asset for AEW in front of and behind the camera since arriving in 2021. While he tries to avoid surgery on a neck injury, Danielson is expected to join the AEW announce team on a full-time basis next.
