Bryan Danielson is now part of the AEW roster, and he's brought a lot of WWE fans to the company. However, there remains a divide between pro wrestling viewers and while there are plenty of people out there who are supportive of both companies, some only root for one of the other.
Since leaving WWE, Danielson hasn't said a single bad word about his time as Daniel Bryan and has instead heaped praise upon his former employers and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Now, the American Dragon has opened up on the sort of tribalism we're seeing on social media between WWE and AEW fans. That came during a conversation with the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast (via Wrestling Inc.). "After I got a little promo and I said, ‘I love where I worked before,’ that got a huge chorus of boos," Danielson recalled. "But it’s true."
"I think that also speaks to it’s not just a wrestling culture thing. I think there’s also a tribalism in our country right now. The narrative of being on one side or the other, and I think most people are actually very rational and will enjoy both sides, but I think the harder edges, and those are the people who tend to speak out more."
"If you like both, you’re not going to go on social media and say anything controversial that’s going to get a lot of responses. If you say, ‘Oh AEW was great last night, but I really enjoyed this about WWE as well.’ Nobody’s gonna say anything," Danielson added. "You just do one or the other. I think that’s one of the negatives of social media is it tends to emphasize the harshness in either direction."
AEW fans have popped huge for any shots taken at WWE by the likes of Adam Cole, Miro, and Ruby Riott, and the same could be said by WWE fans (when Roman Reigns recently buried AEW at a non-televised house show in Madison Square Garden, the fans loved it).
Honestly, though, it feels like Danielson's attitude is best (even if some fans don't like it).