What Vince McMahon Surprisingly Told Bryan Danielson Before AEW Debut
Bryan Danielson has revealed what was said between him and Vince McMahon just before he made his AEW debut.
In 2021, Bryan Danielson headlined WrestleMania for the second time in his career as he and Edge challenged Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship in a triple threat match. Reigns won that match, and just a matter of a couple of weeks later, Reigns defeated Danielson again, this time with the star’s WWE career on the line.
That did prove to be the final match of Danielson’s career, as in September, he made his shock debut at the end of All Out.
But just days before that debut, Vince McMahon made one last play to keep Danielson as part of WWE.
Vince McMahon Accepted He’d Lost Bryan Danielson
Speaking to Nick Stav, Danielson revealed that WWE got wind that he had not signed his AEW deal, so Vince McMahon made one last call to try and keep him, before McMahon conceded that he’d lost his former WWE Champion:
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.’
Bryan Danielson now has a new permanent role in AEW as he continues to stay away from getting back in the ring.