Bryan Danielson has revealed how some vile trolls have been wishing death upon him and his son since he decided to leave WWE for AEW.
The former world champion, who was known as Daniel Bryan during his time with Vince McMahon’s company, signed with the rival promotion and made a sensational first appearance moments after NXT mainstay Adam Cole also debuted at All Out last month.
Not everyone was happy for him though, as Danielson has revealed some people have sent abuse to him over his big career move.
He told 6abc: ‘It’s weird. There’s a decent amount of tribalism in our culture today. Let’s say politically. If you’re right, everything on the left is bad; if you’re left, everything on the right is bad. Same thing with wrestling.
‘The worst [fans] would be like sending [messages to] me on Instagram saying, “I hope you die”, or “I hope your son dies”. But that’s a small minority. I think wrestling fans for the most part are great people and great humans.
‘But what it does is it’s kind of like conspiracy theories. Because the really bad conspiracy theory, like flat Earth or something like that. The issue is distrust. They don’t have a trust.’
The American Dragon welcomed his son Buddy into the world last summer with wife Brie Bella – with whom he already has four-year-old daughter Birdie – and he even tried to understand the reason people have sent him such disgusting messages.
He added: ‘So the most hardcore of these people who are saying these horrible things, why are they mad?
‘Well, because [they think], “We supported you for years and years and we’re the ones who pushed you to this level, and we feel like you’ve betrayed us or we feel like you’ve left us.” ‘
Danielson actually wrote a beautiful open letter to thanked WWE, its fans and even his former boss Vince McMahon for everything as he prepared to face Kenny Omega last month, and it was important for the man himself.
He explained: ‘From a personal standpoint, I never got a chance to say goodbye to a lot of people. A lot of people didn’t even know it was my last day. I didn’t know if I was going to go back or not.
‘My contract was up. Most people in the company didn’t know my contract was up that day except for a handful of people, and I didn’t know if I was going to come back. I didn’t know if I was going to go to AEW. I didn’t know if I was going to stop wrestling for a while.’
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : AEW’s Bryan Danielson says WWE boss Vince McMahon gave him ‘the best hug’ of his life
MORE : WWE asked Bryan Danielson not to do ‘yes’ chants along with AEW fans