As part of a major push to get Bryan Danielson to remain in WWE, Vince Mahon gave him permission to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax tournament.
Dave Meltzer first reported the news in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Meltzer said that Danielson got a “major offer” to stay in WWE and got a similar one from AEW. WWE would have granted him the ability to also work in New Japan with McMahon giving the go-ahead to work in the G1. However, Meltzer said, “It’s most likely McMahon had no idea what it was when he said that.”
WWE president Nick Khan attempted to make a deal with New Japan for exclusivity, but was unable to do so. Had the deal been done and Danielson still signed with AEW, he would have been unable to work there.
“Both AEW and WWE offered similar money. WWE was willing to allow him limited dates to give him time home, a major guarantee (among the largest in the company) and the ability to do outside stuff. AEW offered similar,” Meltzer wrote.
The WWE contract for Danielson (then Daniel Bryan) expired on April 30th, making him a free agent. Like CM Punk and Ruby Soho, he had verbally agreed to a deal but hadn’t put pen to paper until the last two weeks prior to All Out.
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