Daniel Bryan was one of the top WWE stars so why did he leave them to join AEW?
Former WWE superstar Daniel Bryan made a spectacular debut in All Elite Wrestling, making the fans go crazy. Bryan has joined under his ring name Bryan Danielson, which came as a bit of a shock to many.
Danielson appeared at the AEW All Out pay-per-view and confronted Kenny Omega, who successfully defended his AEW Championship Title against Christian Cage.
The Dynamite Dragon used a remised version of his “Flight of the Valkyries” theme on his appearance and assisted Christian and Jurassic Express following an attack from The Elite.
The YES! Movement arose to the occasion of Bryan’s comeback as people kept the Yes Chants on throughout.
Why Daniel Bryan leave WWE to join AEW?
The WWE industry is falling apart just like its ratings in recent times as some big names are either leaving WWE or are choosing AEW in place of WWE on their return.
After CM Punk made a massive return to AEW in his pro wrestling return, many people have assumed that this might have paved the way for other big names to follow the same route.
There has been a lot of speculation about why Daniel Bryan left WWE after being so successful there.
Finally, Bryan has cleared all the doubts of the WWE universe and other AEW fans worldwide by stating three reasons he left WWE.
There were a few reasons for him joining AEW from WWE with one being the roster.
Number 2 is for the fans, and he said, “godda*****, you guys are the best fans in the world!”
Number 3 is because he’s a wrestler, and he came here to “god**** wrestle!”
These are indeed the main reason for his switch at the AEW All Out post-show media scrum (h/t Wrestling Inc.), on why he chose to come to AEW instead of re-signing with WWE. He mentioned an internal battle and also how the authenticity of the promotions and character development in AEW will help him in his career both in and out of the ring:
“Honestly, it was an internal battle the whole time,” Danielson said. “Because I loved where I worked before, I did. I loved the people I worked with. There was never a moment that I was like, ‘oh now I know.’ It’s just that I kept seeing it. I don’t know how many of you are married or have kids. When you’re married and you have kids, your life becomes a little bit tame. I love it, but it’s a little bit tame. I need one part of my life that’s a little bit wild. Like ‘oh man, do you see these guys doing these crazy things? Oh my god, can I do those things?
“Hell yes I can. I don’t care!’ I’m going to go out there and show everybody here, what Elite really looks like. This is what Elite looks like. Punk had come in and said, ‘oh, I want to help the young guys and all that stuff. No man, I want to kick their f*****g heads in!”
The former WWE star also brought up Tony Khan and how there seems to be more freedom to speak at AEW:
“I just think, and I think this is a credit to Tony, I think everybody speaks more authentically here. Because you’re allowed to be yourself more,” Danielson said. “That’s not a knock on the place I worked before, but I think you see it. One of the things I love about this is the artistic expression, and that’s something that I’ve always loved about pro wrestling.You can be what you want to be, and you can be who you are. Pretending to be a different person, that’s acting. Taking yourself and taking it up a notch, you actually learn a lot about yourself. I’ve learned so much about myself because of pro wrestling.
Danielson also mentioned the factors that led him to AEW, and even though WWE has given him a generous offer,
AEW allowed him to push his limits in a way that he could have never done if he stayed with WWE.
He also spoke about how AEW dealt with the Brodie Lee demise, among other things:
“One of the things that really turned Punk was the Brodie Lee show,”“That was also one of the things that I saw. So many of us loved him so much. I saw how special it was, and we saw them go, ‘okay, we’re going to stop what we’re normally doing and do that.’ And I thought that was really special for me. That was when I really started kind of thinking about it, knowing that my contract was coming up.
“But the final decision was when I started thinking about things. And WWE was so gracious to me as far as the offer that they gave me. They were going to let me go do some other stuff outside. But there’s just, I hate to say this, Vince and I have a great relationship. I love him, I really do. But sometimes he’s overprotective of me, and I want to be able to push my limits.”
These could be seen as Bryan’s wrestling days have just begun with this new journey in All Elite Wrestling.
More AEW news
- Tyler Breeze shares reason why AEW isn’t on his mind
- Big Show shares how Bray Wyatt, Ric Flair and Braun Strowman can help AEW
- Chris Jericho seems to take swipe at WWE over NXT releases
Follow our dedicated AEW page for instant AEW news and updates
