Top AEW star reveals Vince McMahon almost allowed him to wrestle outside WWE before he left the company - "I’d let you do that"
Former WWE President, Vince McMahon was notorious for his tight control over every aspect of his company. Superstars were locked into their contracts and were very rarely allowed to make appearances for other promotions. However, Bryan Danielson almost secured permission to wrestle for another company before his departure.
Reports emerged in 2021 that Bryan Danielson was negotiating with the Stamford-based company after his contract expired. Rumors swirled that The American Dragon wanted to compete in NJPW's legendary G1 Climax Tournament, but doing so under a WWE contract was unheard of.
Danielson ultimately departed the company and signed with AEW, which shares a close partnership with New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The 43-year-old hasn't yet competed in the G1, but he's had several high-profile matches in the Land of the Rising Sun and even competed at Wrestle Kingdom 18 this year.
In a conversation with Kenny McIntosh for Inside the Ropes, The American Dragon detailed his last conversation with Vince McMahon before joining AEW:
"So I don’t know for sure if he would have let me. The last conversation that we had where I told him that I was going to [leave], because I told him I was going to go to AEW. I told him once I make my decision, I’ll tell you. And so it was around August of that year; my contract expired the last day of April of 2021. It was early August when I finally decided, and I called and told him."
Danielson then revealed that McMahon had talked about letting him work the G1 if he stayed with WWE:
"Then he kind of asked me why, and I said, well, this, that the other […] One of the things I want to do is I want to do the G1. I want to do work with New Japan and do the G1. And he did say in that moment, I don’t know if it would have actually ever come to fruition, [but he did say] I’d let you do that, or whatever it is. So I think maybe?" he said. [H/T: Inside the Ropes]
You can check out his comments in the video below:
AEW's Bryan Danielson recalls Vince McMahon's plans after WrestleMania 30
Bryan Danielson was an unlikely hero for WWE, but he managed to ride a wave of fan support to the main event of WrestleMania 30, where he won the company's World Championship.
Following that, he and Vince McMahon discussed plans for the future. The former WWE President revealed that he wanted The American Dragon to be destroyed by Brock Lesnar, who would go on to lose to Roman Reigns in order to build the latter into a replacement for John Cena.
When Danielson told Vince McMahon that he wanted to be the next Cena, his former boss was taken aback:
"This is the only time Vince has ever backtracked with me. It's the only time. Whenever he said something, he always kind of stuck to it, but that's the only time he ever backtracked. He's like, 'Well, nobody can really be the next John Cena.' In his mind, I wasn't the guy. I was just the guy that they needed at that particular point because the fans wouldn't have wanted it any other way, right?" Danielson told Mojo Rawley on TMZ Sports.
Bryan Danielson is now the AEW World Champion, and his ties to Vince McMahon have seemingly been severed following allegations of sexual misconduct for the latter. Whether The American Dragon achieves his dream of wrestling in the G1 Climax remains to be seen.