This story was updated at 12:30 PM Eastern Wednesday.
In an interview with Barstool Sports, AEW’s Bryan Danielson said he wants to respect’s WWE’s intellectual property in his post-WWE career.
In an interview on Rasslin with Brandon Walker, Danielson said that respect is why he hasn’t led AEW fans in doing the “Yes!” chant while adding he hasn’t been threatened legally in any way for doing it.
“I’m not doing it myself because I respect WWE’s intellectual property,” Danielson said. “I don’t think anything legally…they haven’t threatened anything legally. So I had a great conversation with Kevin Dunn with WWE before I debuted with AEW. I was very upfront with WWE about, ‘Okay, I want to let you guys know I’m leaving. This is my debut date’ and all that kind of stuff. They asked me, politely, to respect their intellectual property, even some of the things that couldn’t be legally enforced. I’m trying my best to do that.”
He later clarified to Dave Meltzer that the conversation was mainly about music and not the chant.
Prior to his in-ring AEW debut Wednesday at Dynamite: Grand Slam, Danielson wrote an article that was posted on Player’s Tribune thanking WWE.