Bryan Danielson: Certain People In WWE Don’t Want AEW To Exist, I’m Curious As To Why They Desire That

Bryan Danielson weighs in on WWE counter-programming AEW.

Since 2019, AEW has been a competitor to WWE, establishing itself as the number two promotion in the United States with two shows on cable TV and strong PPV and gate sales.

Though the two promotions have only worked with each other in small gestures, fans have often wondered if a dream event could ever come together.

Speaking to Ned & Josh, Bryan Danielson was asked if WWE and AEW would ever work together.

“You never say never. In the current climate, my answer would have to be no. It almost seems, and this is just my perception. I don’t want to put this on anybody because I’ve never talked to anybody about this. It almost seems like they would like us to go out of business,” Danielson said with a laugh.

Asked about WWE counter-programming AEW, Danielson replied, “That’s not my game. I don’t worry about those kinds of things. There is (that saying), ‘Grant me the serenity to change the things that I can, accept the things that I can’t change, and the ability to know the difference between the two.’ We can only do on our end what we can, and they’re going to do what they do. I’m not saying this in a negative way. I was in WWE for 12 years. This is the way they’ve operated since 1984, as far as seeing a competitor. There is nothing AEW can do to stop WWE from making over a billion dollars a year. They have these TV rights deals, they have this incredible back office where they are great at making deals with Netflix. There is nothing anybody can do, nobody can stop them from making billions of dollars a year. I would love to know, obviously, I know people in WWE who are great people. I don’t even like framing this in the terms of, ‘That’s bad.’ What is your decision-making process? What’s the process like of wanting us to not be there or not exist?”

Danielson continued, “It gives you options. AEW focuses on different things than WWE does. Having different wrestling companies allows different types of entertainment. Not only is it good for the fans, it’s super important for the wrestlers. Having two companies where you can make a living is really good for the wrestlers and production people in wrestling. I would think most wrestlers in WWE want AEW to keep existing because it’s good for them, but certain people there obviously don’t want us to exist. I’m not saying anything bad about them. I’m just saying, I’m curious as to why they desire that.

“There is going to be incredible talent in WWE, who WWE misses on, and they succeed in AEW. Great examples of that are Toni Storm and Swerve Strickland. There is going to be talents who AEW misses on, and they will succeed very well in WWE. It’s good for both.”

Danielson compared having options to movie genres, noting that he likes comedies, but other people like horror.

While making the media rounds, Danielson gave further comments on WWE counter-programming AEW. You can find his full comments here.

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