Bryan Danielson has chimed in on not being able to use The Final Countdown as his theme song in AEW.
Once reports started swirling regarding Danielson’s arrival in AEW, fans started fantasizing about “The American Dragon” making his way to the ring with The Final Countdown blaring out the speakers. Danielson made his AEW debut at the All Out PPV on Sept. 5 but he had a brand new theme song.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that using The Final Countdown was cost-prohibitive for Tony Khan.
Speaking to Bleacher Report, Bryan Danielson confirmed that the asking price was simply not feasible.
“Tony and I talked about a couple of things. We had talked about ‘The Final Countdown,’ but that was way too expensive. I hate talking business stuff when I don’t exactly know what it was, but it wasn’t just the amount of money. They would only let [AEW] play it like 20 times a year or something like that. For several $100,000 you can play ‘Final Countdown’ 20 times a year. That doesn’t work for us.”
Danielson ended up calling on his friend, Elliott Taylor, to make a fresh theme song for him. The song even includes a chant that Danielson often heard when he was on the indie scene, “you’re gonna get your f*cking head kicked in.”
Danielson is set for his first match on AEW TV. He will take on AEW World Champion Kenny Omega in a non-title match. It’ll be featured on the AEW Grand Slam edition of Dynamite on Sept. 22. The show will be held inside Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City.
