Bryan Danielson Says Vince McMahon Asked About AEW

• Bryan Danielson

  Birthdate:

  1981-05-22

  Birthplace:

  Aberdeen, Washington, USA

  Birthname:

  Bryan Lloyd Danielson

  Height:

  5 feet 10 inches

  Weight:

  210 lbs

  Debut:

  1999-10-04

  Championships Held:

  WWE Championship (x4), World Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship, WWE Tag Team Championship, SmackDown Tag Team Championship, ROH World Championship

  Current Promotion:

  AEW

  Finisher:

  LeBell Lock, Running Knee

  Twitter:

  Notable Allies:

  Jon Moxley, Kane

  Notable Rivals:

  Triple H, bray wyatt, kofi kingston, randy orton

  Instagram:

  Eye Color:

  Blue

  Hair Color:

  Brown

Highlights

• Danielson was a trusted leader in WWE and Vince McMahon would seek his advice, even on matters WWE claimed not to care about.
• Danielson suggested that AEW and WWE don't need to change their styles to compete, as there is room for both in the industry.
• Despite WWE's claims that they didn't care about AEW, Danielson's experience with McMahon implies otherwise.

Before Bryan Danielson made the jump to AEW and was Daniel Bryan in WWE, he was a Vince McMahon guy. This doesn't necessarily mean he was loyal to the person, but he was all about WWE and loyal to the company. In working with WWE, he was a trusted leader and resource for all things wrestling, and he noted during a recent interview that McMahon would often pick his brain, even about things WWE never admitted to caring about.

For example, during a recent chat on an SXSW panel, Danielson was asked about how AEW can reach a new level of success. He denied they necessarily needed to, arguing that AEW was already successful. He then compared getting that question to a time that Vince asked him something similar.

Danielson explained:

“This is what we were talking about in WWE. Vince McMahon actually called me one night. I was part of WWE creative, and he called me one night and said, ‘What is AEW doing that we’re not doing?’ I went back and watched eight straight weeks of TV within the span of six days and was like, ‘There is a whole list of things.’ What you don’t want to do in getting to the next level is to change the things that are already working because there are so many things already working. Then, it’s experimenting with different things.”

The assumption here is that he was suggesting that WWE didn't need to change a bunch of things to try and be like AEW and AEW doesn't need to change a lot of things to be like WWE. There's room in the industry for both styles of wrestling and both shows.

As for how Danielson measured success, compared to how AEW and WWE do, that wasn't entirely clear. Both companies seem to place priority on different things. In AEW, in-ring performances and making what their fan base believes to be dream matches take top billing. In WWE, it;s about the spectacle, the storylines, and the pageantry. The respective audiences like their brand's style and a good portion of wrestling fans like both.

Didn't WWE Say AEW Didn't Matter?

What's interesting about Danielson's comments is that he seems to be hinting that WWE's insistence that they didn't focus on AEW or care what the promotion did wasn't entirely true. It seemed like Vince did care, even if it also sounds like he didn't watch the show.