Bryan Danielson is one of the biggest wrestling stars to ever make the jump from WWE to AEW, but like those who came before and after him, there were restrictions on what he could bring with him to Tony Khan’s promotion. One of the biggest issues was his hugely popular YES! chant.

There have been reports of WWE asking the American Dragon not to do the chant, which he popularized in the legendary build to WrestleMania 30, in All Elite Wrestling. Ahead of his comeback at AEW All In Texas last weekend, the industry giant allegedly contacted him again, asking him not to infringe on its intellectual property.

Speaking to Tony Schiavone at Starrcast last weekend, Bryan Danielson revealed that someone from WWE had texted him the day before to deliver the message:

“I think it’s odd, I just got a text message yesterday… I wouldn’t say threatening legal action. But, like, ‘Hey, you know if you…’ I’m not somebody who tends to criticize people. Everybody has their different values, and they have their own values. They’re just different from mine, and that’s fine.”

Danielson has initiated the YES! chant many times in AEW, including at All In Texas, but he made it clear that he’s only performed the pose, and the fans took it from there. However, he’s not keen to get anyone in trouble over the issue:

“Yeah, yeah [I knew there was no way to stop the ‘Yes!’ chant when I got to AEW] … And it’s also something like, am I not allowed to raise my fingers in the air? When I do it, nobody notices, but I never say ‘yes!’ when I do it. I always just do this [raise my fingers in the air] and the people — so am I not allowed to do that? I don’t know. This is getting really into the weeds of stuff that is not super interesting or fun to talk about for me, and I also don’t wanna get myself or anybody else in trouble.” [H/T Fightful]

Wrestling media legend compares Bryan Danielson to Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels

Many fans consider Bryan Danielson one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He’s arguably been responsible for some of this generation’s most celebrated moments in both WWE and AEW.

However, legendary wrestling journalist Bill Apter only considers him one of the best technical wrestlers, while megastars like Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels were also incredible showmen, as he said on a recent episode of Sportskeeda’s The Wrestling Time Machine:

“Let me say something about Bryan Danielson. Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, they are, besides wrestlers, they are showmen. Other than the fans showboating for Bryan Danielson with the yes yes yes, he is one of the best, what we used to call in the magazines, technical pro-wrestling experts in the business, bar none.”

Danielson retired from full-time competition at AEW WrestleDream last year. However, he’s still involved behind the scenes in All Elite Wrestling, and he made his televised comeback at All In Texas to get revenge on Jon Moxley and the Death Riders. Whether the American Dragon returns for another match remains to be seen.