AEW superstar Bryan Danielson recently spoke with the Wrestling Observer about a wide range of topics, including how the American Dragon told WWE chairman Vince McMahon that one of the reasons he wanted to go to the rival promotion was so he could bleed. Highlights from the interview are below.
How one trait about AEW that he liked would be that he could bleed:
There wasn’t necessarily one thing, but when I did the checks and balances as far as; what do I want from my life, where would I make a bigger impact and help more people, what would my quality of life be like for my children as far as being on the road. Two things that are not related at all are that I would be able to spend more time with my family and then I’d also be able to bleed [laughs].
How Vince McMahon could never allow him to bleed in WWE:
I don’t like to divulge my conversations with Vince at all because I know he’s a very private person, but I will say that’s one of the things, I wanted to tell him before I told anyone else, I don’t remember I told Vince before I told Tony. When I finally made my decision, ‘Okay, I’m set on this decision.’ He was asking me why and I said, ‘Part of me just wanted to be able to bleed.’ He immediately said, ‘I’m sorry, I’ll never be able to give you that.’ It’s not like I want to do it all the time, but there’s something incredibly life-affirming about it, as strange as that sounds.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)