Excalibur Was Ordered to Shut Up During Bryan Danielson’s “Final Countdown” Entrance

The main event of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 featured the first match between Kazuchika Okada and Bryan Danielson. It was also the first time Danielson used the song “The Final Countdown” by Europe in AEW.

AEW commentator Excalibur shared a story about this entrance on AEW Unrestricted. While he was talking during Danielson’s entrance, people on his headset were telling him to shut up. Tony Khan, excited about the entrance, kept reminding Excalibur that the chorus was coming soon when the crowd would shout “Final Countdown.”

Excalibur said he had called a lot of Danielson’s matches in the past when he used “The Final Countdown” as his entrance song. Because of that experience, he knew when to stop talking so the crowd could sing along without his voice in the way. He finished talking just in time, and afterwards, Tony Khan told him he thought it was a great call. Excalibur added that he understood how important that moment was and was careful not to ruin it by speaking over the crowd.

The most memorable moment in Forbidden Door, it was not actually anything to do with a match itself. It was when the first time that (Bryan) Danielson came out to Final Countdown in AEW. I think that was at Forbidden Door in Toronto. He’s entering and he’s doing the entrance, the song is playing and I didn’t realize this at the time but as it was going on, I have an internal clock for that song because he used it on the indies for so many years and I’d called so many of his matches in PWG where he used that song that when that chorus kicks in, I know that that’s when the fans are gonna shout and so, I’m doing this whole preamble. You know, talking about Danielson, talking about what this match means; blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and while I’m doing that, everybody is screaming in my ear just saying, ‘Shut up! You gotta wait for the chorus! You gotta wait for the chorus!’ And then Tony (Khan) gets on. He’s like, ‘The chorus! The chorus! The chorus!’ And I just somehow was able to ignore him, finish my thought. I finish my thought and then you hear the crowd hit ‘The Final Countdown’ and then Tony gets in my ear and goes, ‘That was f*cking great!’

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After he said, ‘Oh! That was f*cking great,’ I just keyed back to him. I said, ‘Thank you for trusting me.’ That’s all I said. I legitimately meant that because it’s a high-level of trust to put in one person, put in me, that, you know, I am for better or for worse the soundtrack of the broadcast and I could have very easily trampled what could have been a huge moment and I obviously would have been super disappointed in myself but I also let my boss down and so, for him to put me in that chair, to put me in that position, it requires a lot of trust and that’s not something I take for granted.”

Bryan Danielson has been absent since AEW WrestleDream 2024, where he lost the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley. However, it remains unclear when Danielson will return to the ring to confront the Blackpool Combat Club, as he will be sidelined for a while due to his nagging neck issues, so all fans can do is wait and hope for his eventual return.

Do you believe Bryan Danielson’s ”Final Countdown” is one of the greatest entrances in professional wrestling history? Sound off in the comments section below!