When it comes to professional wrestling, few performers are as widely respected as AEW's Bryan Danielson.
A 28-time champion who has held gold (almost) everywhere he's wrestled in his professional career, Danielson has become a top guy in WWE, a top guy in AEW, arguably the top guy ever in Ring of Honor, and through it all has retained the respect of both the fans and his peers, with the soon-to-be-retiring grappler widely considered one of the greatest technical grapplers of all time.
So naturally, when the “American Dragon” was asked about his former boss, Vince McMahon, and his relationship with the industry now that he's effectively been canceled for his involvement in the Janel Grant Lawsuit, Danielson told Gorilla Position that he feels empathy for the victims as opposed to the alleged abusers.
“It's been, first and foremost, I want to say that the people who have been hurt are in a way worse position than I am. My empathy goes to them, Danielson declared via Fightful. “There is not a lot I want to say about it, honestly. It's not just the Vince piece. It's also, my father-in-law [Laurinaitis], maybe ex-father-in-law, as far as that kind of stuff goes. You think of somebody in some way. Then something happens, and it changes. That is always hard. As hard as it may be for me, emotionally, it's way worse than people who have been victimized by people in power.”
Asked too about the other McMahon drawing massive headlines from around the professional wrestling world, Vince's son Shane McMahon, Danielson noted that he would be happy to work with him in AEW if the opportunity presented itself.
“I'm open to working with anybody,” Danielson noted via Fightful. “I don't have beef with anybody. 100%.”
Asked about Tony Khan's meeting with McMahon, Danielson attempted to keep a tight lip, even if it's hard to believe that he didn't know about the situation.
“One, if I knew, I would not tell you. Two, I don't know [laughs]. It was interesting because Tony mentioned to me after the photo came out, ‘I didn't want to tell you this before, but I met with Shane McMahon,'” Danielson noted. “I didn't say this, but I was like, ‘Yeah, I know. The picture is everywhere.' To be fair, I'm not aware of a lot of things because I don't go on Twitter or social media.”
While some fans have been particularly harsh on Shane for the alleged sins of his father, and others may dislike him for the in-ring sins of, well, himself, there is still a place for a McMahon in professional wrestling if he can connect with the correct storyline and wrestlers around him. If that happens in AEW, great. If it doesn't, great too; either way, it hard to imagine wrestling fans have seen the last of Shane-O-Mac.
Tony Khan had a “fantastic” talk with Shane McMahon about AEW
Speaking of TK's talk with the younger McMahon that took the internet by storm, Khan was asked for official comment on the situation on ESPN's Sedano & Kap and let it be known that while this wasn't a part of his master plan, he really enjoyed their meeting.
“As I understand, he's not doing anything with WWE, and I had a really nice visit with him. I heard from a lot of people that he was interested in talking, and it had become, frankly, a big media story to the point where I was getting asked on the record questions about it, and I answered them just like I'll answer you now. In advance of, I had never met him and my first conversation with him, there was a lot of buzz about this. I thought it would certainly be worth talking and I have a lot of respect for him. I had never met him, but he seemed like a really nice guy. I sat down with him, he was fantastic. I really enjoyed talking with him. He is a very smart person about wrestling, and I thought he was a great guy,” Tony Khan told Sedano & Kap via Fightful.
“We have a lot of mutual friends, and we both happened to be in Dallas. A mutual friend linked us up, who is one of the bigger names in pro wrestling, and that friend put us on a group chat. I had a really nice talk, and I really enjoyed visiting with him. Clearly, there was a lot of interest in it. Somebody, in the middle of talking at an airport conference room, somebody just busted in and took a photo. I think that's fine. I enjoyed the conversation, and there is nothing wrong with a couple of people getting together and talking about wrestling. That's part of what makes wrestling so great. There is a lot to talk about, and we're all fans at heart. It's a big thing. It's exciting. It was nice to talk to him. I don't know what's to come, but it's an exciting time in AEW.”
Welp, there you go, folks; Shane McMahon is heading to AEW, and the pop is going to be generational… right?
… needless to say, this can still be filed under the “developing story” category, at least for now.
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