Summary
- Bryan Danielson calls WWE’s counter-programming a puzzling power play; he can’t see AEW as a real threat.
- AEW moved All Out to 3 p.m. ET to avoid clashing with WWE’s Wrestlepalooza on Sept. 20.
- He says competition benefits wrestlers—AEW helped make stars like Cody Rhodes and aided Punk’s return.
With WWE’s Wrestlepalooza on the horizon, WWE’s counter-programming of AEW is a hot topic. One former WWE Superstar and current AEW star, Bryan Danielson, has weighed in on this popular topic. It’s interesting since he’s been in both promotions and seems to have a good rapport with both places.
Bryan Danielson Doesn’t Understand WWE’s Motive
During an interview with comedian Jon-Bernard Kairouz, Danielson shared his thoughts about WWE not just having NXT PLEs during AEW pay-per-views, but now its main roster PLEs. Danielson is confused by the whole thing because he doesn’t think the people making these decisions see AEW as a dangerous billion-dollar business. He said:
“I think of it and I wonder, right? Like, I’m just curious what the people who are making these decisions, what they’re thinking. In the sense of this, ‘Oh, okay. This AEW thing, it’s real dangerous to our billion dollar business.’ That can’t be it. The one thing I think is that AEW existing and being this challenger brand, and being as successful as we’ve been, has changed the landscape for wrestling for the wrestlers themselves… but we’re still the challenger brand, catching up on however many years WWE has had. But it’s interesting, because we’re not at the point of being a threat. It’s one of the things where people who really crave power and a lot of money play these weird games that I don’t understand.” (H/T: WrestlingPurists)
As noted, AEW decided to change the time of AEW All Out, so it wouldn’t go against Wrestlepalooza. Both events are set for September 20. WWE announced Wrestlepalooza last month, while AEW announced All Out’s date and location in May. Anyway, instead of 8 p.m. ET, the event will be taking place at 3 p.m. ET. So AEW decided to do an earlier time to not clash with the PLE. Just last month, on August 24, AEW’s latest PPV, Forbidden Door, went against the WWE NXT Heatwave PLE.
Bryan Danielson Thinks Competitive Is Good For Both WWE And AEW
Danielson also shared in the interview why he thinks competition is good for both promotions. He pointed out that AEW helped Cody Rhodes become the star he is in WWE and even said CM Punk probably wouldn’t have come back to wrestling or WWE without AEW. Even with all the controversy surrounding Punk’s AEW run. He was fired from the company in September 2023. He said:
“It’s like, okay, we’re going to run all the competitors that might be competitive with us out of this business. Why? It’s good for the wrestlers both in AEW and WWE. It’s been good for them like—okay, if AEW wouldn’t have started, would Cody Rhodes be where he is right now? No. They have a megastar because AEW exists. Would CM Punk ever have come back? Probably not. The people in WWE, a lot of the people I know, are great people. So I’d be interested to know what’s the decision-making process in this? But, you know, it’s not my monkey, not my circus, whatever the line is for that, you know what I mean?”
Danielson left WWE in May 2021 after his contract expired, and four months later, on September 5, 2021, he made his AEW debut. Since October 2024, Danielson has pretty much quit doing in-ring competition. This upcoming Wednesday, September 10, Danielson will officially be a full-time commentator for AEW Dynamite.
Wrestlepalooza will mark the first WWE PLE to air on ESPN’s new DTC service. The event will be taking place at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, while All Out is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The PPV will be available to stream on HBO Max.
