John Cena saw qualities of himself in current AEW star, Vince McMahon did not, reveals former champion (Exclusive)

A former NWA Worlds Champion believes John Cena saw himself in AEW star Bryan Danielson. The name in question is none other than EC3.

The American Dragon managed to become a top guy in WWE however, he has spoken about how hard it was due to the management, specifically Vince McMahon, not being on board with pushing him. Despite the issues, Bryan Danielson managed to become a five-time WWE World Champion during his tenure with the company.

In the recent edition of Sportskeeda's exclusive The Wrestling Outlaws podcast, EC3 explained how John Cena was willing to put over Bryan Danielson as he saw his own qualities in The American Dragon. He also noted that the Cenation Leader potentially fought against Vince McMahon for Bryan as Vince probably did not see him as a top star.

"John [Cena] was looking not for the next him but somebody who can handle what is necessary to be the top guy. He was always looking for that and I do believe he saw it in Daniel Bryan not only cuz they kind of almost ended up being brothers-in-law but because John was a really big advocate of like the mob maybe against Vince's [McMahon] best wishes but if they're reacting within these reasons and these emotions, I think John put him over clean at Summer Slam too and that was his idea. So, John Cena himself saw the John Cena qualities in Daniel Bryan whereas Vince McMahon did not." [7:15 - 8:14]

AEW star Bryan Danielson recalls his conversation with former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon

Byran Danielson (FKA Daniel Bryan) had a great run in the WWE and had his career-defining moment at WrestleMania 30 where he defeated Randy Orton and Batista to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson opened up about his conversation with Vince McMahon after winning the title at WrestleMania 30. Bryan revealed that he told McMahon that he wanted to be the next John Cena which led to an interesting response from The Chairman.

"He's telling this to me, and I'm like, and then I just kind of said, 'Okay, that's great, but I would kind of like to be the next John Cena.' I just remember seeing the look on Vince's face where he's just like, 'Oh, I didn't think you even saw that as a possibility for yourself.' It was really funny," he said. [From 5:58 onwards]

Bryan Danielson recently defeated Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at All In. He is scheduled to defend the title against Jack Perry at AEW All Out in Chicago on September 7.

If you use the quotes from the first half of this article, Please give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and backlink the YouTube video.