Vince McMahon Called Bryan Danielson Days Before AEW Debut

Danielson told Stav that he hadn’t actually signed his contract until “two or three days” before the All Out PPV. Five days before All Out, former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon reportedly called Danielson to offer him a contract. Danielson explained their conversation that day. He said:

“I hadn’t actually signed my contract until two or three days before that. ‘Always the plan,’ was Tony (Khan) thinking it? Did he have it in the back of his mind? I want to say Adam Cole didn’t sign until that day. Maybe he agreed to come, but you never know what’s going to happen. When WWE found out I hadn’t signed yet, they said, ‘Is there anything we can do?’ I called Vince (McMahon) in early August because I was going back and forth. I called Vince in early August and let him know, ‘I made my decision. I’m going to do this.’ He called me one time in the meantime and said, ‘What if we offered you this instead.’ I hadn’t signed my contract yet, it was maybe five days before the pay-per-view, and he called me. I told him, ‘Sir, I already agreed to this thing. If I were to go back on this, I feel you have a decent amount of respect for me. One of the things you respect me for is that I honor my word.’ It was a great conversation. He said, ‘Da—it, you’re right.’” (H/T: Fightful)

It seems that Vince did value Danielson and respected him. August 2010 was the year when Danielson created his WWE career under the ring name Daniel Bryan.During that time, he held the WWE Championship four times, the WWE Tag Team Titles, the Intercontinental Title, and the United States Championship.

Bryan Danielson's New AEW Role

Danielson’s full-time in-ring career has pretty much ended since losing to Jon Moxley in October 2024 at WrestleDream. Danielson made a surprise comeback to the ring during a taping on June 25, 2025.

Only recently did AEW CEO Tony Khan announce that Danielson will now be joining the AEW Dynamite commentary team on a full-time basis. He will be a full-time commentator starting on the September 10 episode of Dynamite.Danielson most recently did commentary during the Forbidden Door event. Forbidden Door took place last month on August 24 at the O2 Arena in London, England. The main event saw the brutal Lights Out Steel Cage match.