Bryan Danielson: WWE plays ‘weird games that I don’t understand’ with AEW
Bryan Danielson doesn’t fully understand why WWE is going to great lengths to counterprogram AEW.
While in Australia promoting AEW’s February shows in the country, Danielson spoke with The Kairouz Bros and was asked about WWE running events on the same days that AEW already has a major show scheduled.
“I mean, it’s pretty obvious,” Danielson said when asked about WWE counterprogramming AEW.
“I’m just curious what the people who are making these decisions, what they’re thinking? In the sense of like, ‘Oh, okay, this AEW thing, it’s a real danger to our billion-dollar business.’ That can’t be it.”
Danielson then spoke about wrestler pay and compared it to the revenue split between owners and players in major team sports.
“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.”
“Wrestlers are being paid more now than ever. From a sports rights perspective, for example, most major sports in the United States, the players get anywhere between 40 to 50 percent of the revenue and WWE was paying their wrestlers nowhere close to that.”
“Now keep in mind, they’re still not paying anywhere close to that but they do have to pay more because if they don’t, the talent’s going to leave and go to AEW.”
According to Danielson, AEW does pay its wrestlers a percentage of revenue similar to that of American sports leagues.
“AEW does pay that 40 to 50 percent of their revenue to their wrestlers and despite making much less money. I mean, our TV rights deal was incredible, but we’re still the challenger brand catching up on however many years WWE’s had.”
“We’re not at the point of being a threat. it’s just weird. This is one of the things that people who really crave power and a lot of money play these weird games that I don’t understand.”
Danielson continued to talk about the benefits to the wrestling industry from having challenger brands.
“It’s good for the wrestlers both in AEW and in WWE. It’s been good for them. If AEW wouldn’t have started, would Cody Rhodess be where he is right now? No, they have a mega star because AEW exists, right? Would CM Punk ever have come back? Probably not.”
The full interview with Bryan Danielson is available below.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.