Bryan Danielson has confirmed that WWE had talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling earlier this year.
Back in May, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter broke the news that WWE and NJPW were negotiating for a working relationship. It later came out that Bryan Danielson’s desire to wrestle for NJPW while under WWE contract was the genesis for the unexpected outreach.
During a recent appearance on the Kliq podcast, Danielson explained what he knows about how it all unfolded.
“I don’t know how far along the talks went and I don’t know even if I was the start of them, for sure, but one of the things when I was talking to them when WWE was trying to re-sign me was, I said, ‘I want to be able to work in Japan.’”
Bryan continued, “They were trying to come up with an agreement to where I would be able to go and do that. It was definitely something that was talked about. I don’t know where it went or anything, all I know is now it seems like AEW has a really great relationship with New Japan. So, I feel like it couldn’t have gone that well.”
WWE x NJPW
The initial report in May stated that Nick Khan was in talks with New Japan. WWE was looking for an exclusive talent-sharing deal.
“In what could end up being among the biggest wrestling stories of the year, or a non-story, depending on the end result, Nick Khan has been in talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling about WWE being the exclusive American partner with the promotion,” Dave Meltzer wrote.
More information about that report is available in the link below:
H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes