Brian Cage’s future has been in question for months. He had quite a run in AEW as a member of Team Taz, and when that fell apart, he had quite the feud with former ally, Ricky Starks. Many have argued that the feud wasn’t given the necessary time to build and flourish, but the storyline came to a close regardless, in a way that many consider to have been rather unceremonious.
What followed were months that we’ll call Brian Cage-less over in AEW, and for fans of the talented wrestler, that was a hard pill to swallow.
He finally did appear at Supercard Of Honor and was announced as the legendary Tully Blanchard’s newest client. Of course Blanchard was dropped by the ‘face’-turning FTR. Well, now he’s got himself quite the new client in Cage.
via RedJed’s Rasslin’ Rants /YouTube
But the premiere only spawned new questions…specifically a glaring one: Will Brian Cage be wrestling exclusively for ROH, or will there be more in store for the epic talent?
It was while speaking with Chris Van Vliet that he made his own intentions known about the future. This is what he said on the topic:
“I know there is a lot of talk and rumors about Ring of Honor, what’s next, what’s going to happen. There’s stuff I know and there’s a lot of stuff I don’t know. There’s a lot of stuff a lot of people don’t know. It does look like we’ll hopefully be doing both at the same time and I’ll be part of it. I’m never one to turn down work…
More than any title, I just want to get back in there and have amazing matches with a lot of amazing talent that I haven’t worked (with). There are like 20 names that I wrote down that I haven’t worked with. I’ve worked with one of them. The one match I asked for was Matt Sydal. I got to work with (Hangman) Page, which was unexpected and I loved that match at Double or Nothing. Those are the only two that I feel like are Brian Cage matches…”
via Brian Cage on Chris Van Vliet /fightful.com (Transcription)
As per a report at wrestlingnews.co, Cage recently signed a brand new deal with Tony Khan. As we can see from his statements though, a lot is still left up in the air about the future of not just himself, but of what will be happening with ROH as a whole.
Of course an uncertain future isn’t anything new for the pro wrestler. He’s been down this road before, specifically with WWE. He went into his experiences with WWE and how he ended up having to deal with a great deal of frustration on the road to AEW with a stop off over at Impact Wrestling of course, and all at the hands of WWE and the wishy-washy relationship they had established with him. He made these comments in the very same interview with Van Vliet (link above). He said:
“I kept it as professional as I could (w/ WWE). There was a lot I wanted to say. I got back to them saying we might work together again in the future, but actually, that was when my desire to go back to them went away. My life professionally and personally excelled when I let go of that. They reached out to me several times and people would reach out to them about me. They talked to me a lot of times about tryouts and it never happened…
When it finally happened, I turned them down because I had just signed with AAA and Lucha Underground. They were shocked that I didn’t want it, and that felt kind of good. There was some small talk, but it never really went anywhere. I ultimately wanted to go to AEW because there were so many people I wanted to work with there. If I stayed at Impact, I feel like my ceiling would have been capped…
Well, I was waiting on a raise. I was due for one. I was told I would be getting a call and going on the road. I missed the call from the office, but I am stoked and I call them back. They say, ‘Hey Brian. How are things going?’ I said, ‘Things are good’, and I’m trying to play it cool. They then say that they are coming to terms with my release…
I’m not trying to get smarta*s here, but I legitimately asked if they had the right number. It didn’t even cross my mind. They gave me the reason that I’m a little too indie and I need to get some more experience. So I have to go to the indies to get more experience and not be so indie? Hmm, ok, that makes sense…
They did call to say that they were going to do Tough Enough and bring me back for it, but then they took me off the list. They invited me down and wanted me on NXT, but then they changed their minds again. I asked what happened and they said, ‘You are average at best and we are no longer interested.’ They sent that in a text and I was so heated.”
via Brian Cage on Chris Van Vliet /wrestlingnews.co (Transcription)
via World Series Wrestling /YouTube
Cage is the current XPW World Heavyweight Champion, as he competes for Xtreme Pro Wrestling extensively, as well as makes other stops on the indie circuit, and this is in addition to his ROH/AEW obligations.
He has been wrestling since 2005 and has paid some serious dues. Many would love to see him in the running for an AEW World Title (this writer included), but it seems as though he’s got a few roadblocks in the way. But roadblocks for a man as driven as Cage is are as insignificant as a great expanse of air placed before a mere mortal man.
Rest assured, there is AEW Gold in this man’s future and all we have to do is be a tad more patient as he makes his way to that threshold. Looking forward to what comes next for him, but for now, it seems like he’ll be wreaking a most terrible havoc for his foes in ROH. Fingers crossed, dear readers.
