A story from Forbidden Door 2023.
The main event of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 saw the first match between Kazuchika Okada and Bryan Danielson. It also marked the first time Danielson used Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’ in AEW.
There’s a story about that entrance that was shared by AEW Dynamite/Rampage lead commentator Excalibur. While on AEW Unrestricted, Excalibur said as he was talking during the aforementioned Danielson entrance, people were telling him to shut up through headset. Tony Khan jumped in and continuously tried to remind Excalibur that the chorus was coming up when the crowd would shout ‘Final Countdown.’
Excalibur said he’s called so many of Danielson’s matches on the indies when he used that song. He feels he had an internal clock in his head to know when to stop talking so there would be no voice over the crowd saying the line. Excalibur finished his thought and stopped before the moment took place. Khan then relayed to Excalibur that he thought his call was great.
In closing, Excalibur stated that he understands the heightened level of emotion in that moment because there was a chance he could have stepped on it.
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!’
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.
The last time Danielson was in action was at WrestleDream. In the main event, he lost the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley and per his own stipulation, when he lost the title, his full-time career would be over.
Danielson was stretchered out of the venue after being attacked by Blackpool Combat Club.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit AEW Unrestricted with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
