At the post-event media scrum from All Out this weekend, Bryan Danielson mentioned that WWE had made a very gracious offer to him. Danielson said their offer included him being able to work for other companies.
There had been rumors that part of Danielson’s negotiations with WWE involved being able to work with NJPW. This is said to have been a key reason why Nick Khan was looking to develop an exclusive relationship with the promotion. Danielson’s negotiations with WWE and AEW were addressed recently on Wrestling Observer Radio.
“New Japan was a big thing. The key aspect of this was whether Nick Khan could pull of the exclusive deal between New Japan and WWE which obviously did not happen,” said Dave Meltzer. “Because if that happened, maybe he would have gone in the other direction and maybe he wouldn’t have.”
WWE Was Going To Let Bryan Danielson Go To NJPW
Meltzer continued to say that WWE was going to let Danielson work for NJPW. He also said that both offers from WWE and AEW were similar from a financial perspective.
“Both offers were money-wise similar. And both would have allowed him to do New Japan. WWE was going to allow him to do New Japan and he was trying to open the door for other people in WWE that wanted to go to New Japan to be able to do that but that seems to be a dead issue right now from a WWE standpoint.”
Danielson’s decision is also said to have been influenced by what he felt was best for the wrestling industry as a whole.
“He may have felt like Mick Foley did many years ago when he went to TNA, that the best thing for the industry is competition at a high level,” Meltzer continued. “Mick Foley went to TNA years ago for that reason.”
“For the industry as a whole, if competition is one of the key things then going to AEW would obviously be a big part of that as well. So, that was a factor.”
