Bryan Danielson has revealed the AEW moment that made him want to leave WWE and join the promotion owned by Tony Khan.
The wrestling veteran spoke to Talk Sport for a new interview. He opened up about the perceived war between the two American wrestling promotions, claiming that AEW does not approach other companies in a warlike fashion.
The former AEW World Champion said that he doesn’t feel like they are at war with anyone but he noted how this feeling is not mutual. Bryan Danielson explained that since WWE always perceives the competition between the companies as a real war, he finds that AEW is constantly in the defense:
“I don’t know the right strategy, but I like the way Tony Khan handles things because that it in my mind, it makes us the good guys. But I don’t know if at some point we need to go more on the offensive. I’ve had friends bring that up to me like, ‘Oh, you guys should attack.’ I’m like, wait a second.
Like one, that’s not my personality. Two, that’s not Tony Khan’s personality. And I think that’s one of the things that drew me to AEW.”
It Touched Something In Me: Bryan Danielson
Bryan Danielson noted that sharing this mindset with Tony Khan is what first attracted him towards his promotion. He then revealed the one moment that finally convinced him that AEW was the place to be:
“We had a wrestler, Brodie Lee, who had passed away. They did this incredible tribute show. At that point, I was still with WWE. And the way that they did that show — Brodie was my friend — it touched something in me and in my mind. I was thinking like, ‘Oh, these are the good guys of professional wrestling.’”
The former WWE star mentioned that anyone can make mistakes or take bad decisions. As a company however, AEW tries to be good without ever trying to market themselves as the same.
Apart from this, Bryan Danielson also talked about his in ring status after retiring from full time wrestling last year. The 43-year-old noted how he had been in a lot of pain towards the end of his full time run in AEW. On the topic of retirement, Bryan explained that he doesn’t want to put the word out there but claimed that he feels very comfortable where he is right now.
