Big Backstage Update On What WWE Offered Bryan Danielson To Stay

Dave Meltzer has revealed more details regarding Bryan Danielson’s decision to leave WWE and sign with AEW. As seen during this past Sunday's AEW All Out pay-per-view, Danielson made his much-anticipated debut for All Elite Wrestling.

Meltzer noted that WWE reached out to New Japan Pro Wrestling to have Danielson work some date for them, as he really wanted this a part of any new deal he signed with WWE and the company felt it would appease him to reach out. WWE also wanted exclusively wth NJPW, which would have excluded AEW or any other pro-wrestling promotion working with them.

Here is what Meltzer said:

"Both offers (from WWE and AEW) were money wise similar and both would have allowed him to do New Japan. WWE was going to allow him to do New Japan and he was trying to open the door for other people in WWE that wanted to go to New Japan to be able to do that but that seems to be a dead issue right now from a WWE standpoint. I haven’t heard anything about WWE guys going to New Japan."

Meltzer added, "One of the things that he was talking about making his decision about was what would be the best thing for the industry as a whole as opposed what would be the best thing for him…perhaps, probably in looking at the picture, he may have felt like Mick Foley did many many years ago when he went to TNA, that the best thing for the industry is competition at a high level and Mick Foley went to TNA years ago for that reason.."

"At the end of the day, I am sure that he probably got along really good with Tony Khan but he is a big Vince McMahon fan, more than people really understand. He’s a big fan of Vince McMahon as a person, so it was not an easy decision. His wife and his sister-in-law are probably gonna be back in WWE. They have said that. They are not going to AEW as far as I know. ..It was [John Laurinaitis’s] job to make sure that Bryan signed and did not go so that’s a tricky thing there but at the end of the day, he made the decision to go."

Metler also added the WWE was prepared to give Danielson a better and more limited schedule so he could spend time at home with his family.