Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega stole the show during last night's episode of AEW Dynamite in what many are already calling one of the best televised wrestling matches of all-time. With that in mind, it's fair to say that Danielson's decision to make the leap to AEW from WWE has paid off, though he recently opened up on his relationship with Vince McMahon to the New York Post.
"Vince McMahon was very protective of me in the sense of protective of my health kind of stuff and I get that," the former Daniel Bryan explained. "I believe I’m more capable than...he protects me in a caring way. I feel like I can go harder than sometimes they would want me to in WWE. AEW will allow me that freedom to go as hard as I want."
Explaining that the "WWE perspective is coming in a very loving way. It’s not a negative way," Danielson went on to share an interesting analogy about how Vince perceived him as a performer.
"He likened me to a racehorse who needs a bit in their mouth because some racehorses need a bit in their mouth because you need to be able to control the racehorse," the AEW star recalled. "If you don’t, they’ll run themselves into the ground. When he said that in the back of my mind I’d always think, 'Yeah, but I’d kind of rather be a wild horse rather than a racehorse with a bit in my mouth.' That was a big point too as far as signing with AEW."
Despite that, Danielson remains loyal to Vince and confirms he was the first person he told about his decision to sign with AEW (aside from his wife, WWE Hall of Famer Brie Bella).
"He and I have a great relationship. That was actually one of the harder things about leaving. Because I had such a positive experience in WWE. From my perspective, I have a lot of respect and love for him and that was one of the hardest things," the former WWE Champion admitted. "Like, I don’t want him to think I’m betraying him or anything like that. It was really hard. One of the main reason’s why it took me so long to make the decision was my loyalty to Vince."
Despite what sounds like an emotional parting of the ways, it seems Danielson is considerably happier in AEW as he is able to let loose in ways that WWE wouldn't allow. That was evident last night, though it was still clear to see that he was protecting himself and not getting too reckless as the American Dragon!
Do you think Danielson did the right thing signing with AEW?