AEW News Roundup: Top star lays down challenge to Roman Reigns, Brie Bella's reaction to Bryan Danielson leaving WWE

We're just hours away from AEW Grand Slam, which takes place at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City. A number of huge matches have been announced including Bryan Danielson facing AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, in a non-title match.

Let's take a look at the latest AEW news ahead of tonight's event, which is shaping up to be one of the biggest in the promotion's history.

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#6 Kenny Omega ready to WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman

AEW World Champion Kenny Omega was recently interviewed by Tokyo Sports ahead of AEW Dynamite Grand Slam, which takes place later tonight. During the interview, Omega was asked which WWE Superstar he would be interested in facing if he had the opportunity and he named WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.

Here's what Omega told Tokyo Sports:

"We already have a lot of people coming in, so we don't have a problem with opponents. I don't have a specific opponent in mind, but if I had to say, Roman Reigns (WWE Universal Champion) would be a good opportunity for me to prove what a real champion is like."

DISCLAIMER: The above quote has been auto-translated from the original Japanese article

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#5 Brie Bella's reaction to Bryan Danielson leaving WWE for AEW

Bryan Danielson spoke to Chris Mueller of Bleacher Report ahead of AEW Dynamite Grand Slam. During the interview, he was asked about his wife Brie Bella's reaction to him leaving WWE and signing with AEW. Danielson revealed that Brie had been supportive of him to do whatever made him happy:

"Brie's great," said Danielson. "She literally just wanted me to be happy. She was always like 'Hey, whatever you decide, I want to 100 percent support you.' So there was never any pressure from her being like 'Hey, this might affect Total Bellas,' or anything like that. She never wants to even talk about that. And so I'm a very lucky man to have such a supportive wife," revealed Bryan.

Bryan Danielson also praised AEW star Darby Allin during the interview. You can check that out here.

#4 Bryan Danielson opened up about a request made by WWE to him before his AEW debut

AEW star Bryan Danielson was also a guest on Barstool Rasslin'. When speaking of 'Yes' gesture that was synonymous with him in WWE, he said that it was WWE's IP so he preferred not to do it in AEW. He also revealed what WWE told him before his AEW debut:

"I'm not doing it myself because I respect WWE's intellectual property. I don't think anything legally, they haven't threatened anything legally. So I had a great conversation with Kevin Dunn with WWE before I debuted with AEW. I was very upfront with WWE about, 'Okay, I want to let you guys know I'm leaving. This is my debut date’ and all that kind of stuff. They asked me, politely, to respect their intellectual property, even some of the things that couldn't be legally enforced. I'm trying my best to do that,” said Bryan Danielson.

Bryan Danielson will wrestle Kenny Omega later tonight at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam in a non-title match. This will only be the second time they have wrestled each other in a singles match.

#3 Aron Stevens recently discussed his relationship with Cody Rhodes

Aron Stevens, fka Damien Sandow, was a guest on the latest edition of Sportskeeda Wrestling's UnSKripted, where he discussed several topics including Cody Rhodes and possibly signing with AEW.

During the interview, he was asked about his relationship with AEW's Cody Rhodes, who was his former tag-team partner in WWE at one point. Stevens also commented on whether he could sign with AEW:

“Cody and I, as a team, we never had a bad outing. Whether we were doing a three segment match on RAW, an interview segment or an entertaining segment..we never had a bad segment. Cody and I were a very good team. AEW...You know it's funny...everyone asks me that, but I had like zero contacts with them and as far as I'm concerned I'm NWA,” said Aron Stevens.

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#2 Update on whether Ric Flair could still sign with AEW

Dave Meltzer addressed the situation regarding Ric Flair and AEW on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.

According to Meltzer, it is now unlikely that Flair will be signed by AEW following the controversy surrounding the 'Plane Ride From Hell' episode of Dark Side of The Ring:

"I can't see him in AEW right now. I think it would be a mistake. Tony doesn't make mistakes of that level, and it would be a mistake of that level. It would really hurt them right now," said Dave Meltzer.

Ric Flair has since commented on Rob Van Dam's comments during the episode. You can check that out here.

#1 Tony Khan heaped praise on former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley

Tony Khan spoke to the Associated Press ahead of AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam. During the interview, Khan heaped praise on former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, calling him a "blessing" to the promotion and praising his work as world champion. The AEW President also said the Moxley carried AEW on his back during the pandemic era:

"I didn’t expect somebody with so much recognition and as much experience wrestling on TV as Jon Moxley would become available so quickly. He has been such a great blessing for this company. He was a great champion through the pandemic. He’s still one of our most important stars today. I didn’t expect that at the time. Since then, absolutely. By making this a great home for wrestling and a place where wrestlers want to work, we’ve had so many people that want to come here, and have defected. It is more than I ever could have dreamed," said Tony Khan.

Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston will be in action at Grand Slam, as they take on Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer. The match will air on a special two-hour edition of Rampage on Friday night.