AEW star and wrestling legend Bryan Danielson recently shared his perspective on WWE’s recent strategy of scheduling its Premium Live Events on the same day as major AEW pay-per-views. The practice, which has become common in 2025, has been a hot topic of discussion among fans and analysts, with many viewing it as an aggressive move in a new “wrestling war.” However, during an appearance on the Kairouz Bros podcast, Danielson explained that he doesn’t understand the decision-making process behind the move, as he does not believe that WWE views AEW as a legitimate threat to its massive, billion-dollar business. He expressed a genuine curiosity about the corporate mindset that leads to such decisions, suggesting that the competition is ultimately beneficial for everyone in the industry.
Danielson explained his confusion and highlighted the positive impact that AEW’s existence has had on the entire wrestling landscape, particularly for the wrestlers themselves.
“I’m just curious, like, what the people who are making these decisions, what they’re thinking, right? 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. 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. So, for example, in most major sports in the United States, the players get anywhere between 40 to 50% of the revenue. 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 is going to leave and go to AEW. AEW does pay that 40 to 50% of their revenue to their wrestlers, you know, despite making much less money. I mean we still, our TV rights deal was incredible, but we’re still the challenger brand catching up on however many years WWE has.”
He further elaborated on his belief that a competitive landscape is healthy for the business and has even created megastars for WWE.
“It’s interesting because we’re, we’re not at the point of being a threat. It’s one of the things that people who really crave power and a lot of money play these weird games that I don’t understand. I don’t understand, it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna run all the competitors that might be competitive with us out of this business.’ Why? It’s good. It’s good for the wrestlers. It’s good for the wrestlers, both in AEW and in WWE, it’s good for them. If AEW wouldn’t have started, would Cody Rhodes be where he is right now? No, they have a megastar because AEW exists. Would CM Punk ever have come back? Probably not.”
H/T to Fightful for the transcription. Thanks for checking out this article. Make sure to follow Jeff Jarrett and all things GFE on Facebook.
