Tony Khan, Bryan Danielson Discuss How Much Final Countdown Cost To License For Forbidden Door

Tony Khan was attempting to work out a deal for Final Countdown before Forbidden Door took place.

Before the main event of last night’s crossover event, Bryan Danielson would make his entrance to a familiar theme song: “The Final Countdown” by Europe.

During the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door post-show media scrum, Danielson was asked about using the song and joked about how much the song cost to license.

“They want a zillion dollars per play [laughs]. I didn’t even ask for it, to be honest. Tony came up with the idea. 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,”

Bryan Danielson

AEW president Tony Khan would then speak about how he came to license the expensive tune.

“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. Final Countdown has always been associated with Bryan, and I thought it was a cherry on top of this cake that everybody has been wanting a piece of that everybody has been wanting with Okada vs. Danielson. 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,”

Tony Khan

Danielson would defeat Kazuchika Okada in the main event but also suffered a fractured arm during the match, which should keep him out of action for the next two months.

H/T to Fightful

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