Longtime Bryan Danielson fans ate good at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Not only did Danielson finally get the chance to lock up with all-time dream opponent Kazuchika Okada but he also hit the ring to “The Final Countdown” by Europe, the first time that he had utilized that iconic track for his entrance music in well over a decade. “The Final Countdown” was Danielson’s anthem during his Ring of Honor days in the 2000s, as he would famously walk into the Hammerstein Ballroom showered in strobe lights as Joey Tempest asked if things would ever be the same again.
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“I didn’t even ask for it, to be honest. (AEW President) Tony [Khan] came up with the idea,” Danielson revealed at the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door press conference. “I thought it was really cool. I was a little bit angry right before I went out there, and then I heard Final Countdown play. It literally put a smile on my face. I legitimately don’t think I’ve heard that song since I last came out to it in Ring of Honor.”
Danielson using “The Final Countdown” in AEW has been a long time coming as he and Khan had first chatted about it back in Summer 2021. Plans to use it back then fell through because of the price tag. As Khan noted at the press conference, that cost was still high.
“It’s a very expensive song, Final Countdown. I had been working on it for awhile, leading into the pay-per-view, because I believed it would be a great moment and would give the match something special,” Khan added. “I was excited for Final Countdown, but it was also the kind of thing that I was only able to get on a one show contract. It was a very expensive one-night thing and it was as expensive as a wrestler’s contract, but it was worth it, and I thought it added to the show. It was not inexpensive at all. It was very expensive.”
While Danielson using the track permanently seems unlikely, Khan did tease that Danielson could be leaving ground at least once more.
“As for future performances, I have to be able to get a good deal. That was for tonight. Would I be able to get it one more time? I think so,” Khan teased.
Danielson suffered a fractured forearm at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
