Bryan Danielson Says WWE Overreacted When AEW Started

WWE and AEW’s Wednesday Night War started in October 2019 as AEW Dynamite and NXT went head-to-head every week in order to see who would come out the better show. AEW Dynamite would win in the ratings war for the majority of the time. The Wars finally came to an end in April after NXT moved to Tuesday nights. People like Jim Ross believed it was a cop out.

For 76 weeks the war between the two brands raged on and only on one occasion did AEW lose in the key 18-49 demographic rating against NXT. This was seen as a shock to many but AEW bounced back.

When AEW first came into being, WWE immediately started hoarding up talents from all over the world as a means to ensure they never sign with AEW.

While speaking to TV Insider, Bryan Danielson said that WWE overreacted when AEW was just getting started. Danielson added that AEW is doing great so far.

“I don’t ever focus on if something didn’t happen that already happened. But I think this is a natural reaction to what has gone on. What we do know is people who were paid regular contracts will not have them anymore. For WWE, I think there was an overreaction when AEW started. Even when [independent promotion] got real hot with Cody and the Young Bucks. WWE felt they needed to sign up all the talent. They realized, “our business is fine.” AEW is catching up. They’ve done incredible for a company that has been around for less than three years. WWE is still making a billion dollars, so they don’t need to hoard all these talent.*

WWE ended up releasing several talents over the past year, with them having released over 80 just this year itself. It is unlikely WWE will stop releasing talents anytime soon from the looks of it.