All Elite Wrestling’s “The Machine” Brian Cage, who is one of the most, if not the most explosive and intense talent in all of pro wrestling, recently appeared on the Going Broadway podcast to talk about how his original AEW debut was supposed to happen at the inaugural Double or Nothing PPV Event during the Casino Battle Royale, but he was pulled from the PPV two hours before it went live because he was going to lose.
This is what Brian Cage said:
“I was supposed to be in the original Double or Nothing, in the battle royal as Impact World Champion.” “And IMPACT pulled me off two hours before the show started because I was losing.”
Brian Cage also talked about how he was supposed to dominate the Battle Royale and eliminate majority of the field until it came down to only himself and AEW World Champion Hangman Page and have Page win because he was set to face Chris Jericho, but IMPACT didn’t want him to lose because he was the World Champion, though he was supposed to only be thrown over the top rope and not actually get beat.
This is what Brian Cage said:
“They had me eliminating Joey (Janela), both [members of] Private Party, Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy.” “Like, I was going through the whole roster. I was going through everybody and it was going to come down to me and (Hangman Adam) Page at the end and then Page was gonna, you know, eliminate me obviously, to go on to face (Chris) Jericho. So and I thought, I was like, stoked and all this looks great, and if anything, IMPACT had the most to gain because I’d be IMPACT World Champion.”
“It’d be a big surprise.” “Nobody, even people in the matches didn’t know. Like when I showed up there, and so it was going to be this awesome surprise pop and I felt like IMPACT had the most to gain from it and then they threw a fit because I was losing. Because I was their world champion, but I was losing. But like, yeah, but I’m not getting beat. I’m just getting thrown over the top rope.”
Brian Cage also talked about how Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho even reached out to Don Callis for his appearance to happen and they also had Hangman come over to IMPACT to lose and to kind of get the win back, but IMPACT felt that wouldn’t happen and there was a huge argument.
This is what Brian Cage said:
“I know like Kenny (Omega) and Jericho reached out to Don because Don, you know, was cool with them.” “And they, I think, made him an offer of like sending Page to IMPACT and have me beat Page over there to kind of get the win back. But they didn’t really believe that was going to happen and it was a big debacle.”
Brian Cage then talked about how his contractual situation was a mess at the time of the 2019 Double Or Nothing PPV and how he even thought about going against what IMPACT Wrestling had told him, but he decided not to go through with it as they were threatening to sue him, so at the end of the day, he was bummed about it, though everybody apologized to him even Tony Khan and Hangman Page.
This is what Brian Cage said:
“Contractually, on my contract work with IMPACT, it was still through Lucha Underground, much like Penta (El Zero Miedo) and (Rey) Fenix, which were both on that show.” “So, and I went through it all, so contractually, I should have been able and been allowed to do it. And I was looking at it, but they literally threatened to try and like sue me if I did and told me not to. And then I’m looking through it, I’m like, ‘You know what? It’s not going to go anywhere.’ And maybe we wouldn’t even really done it, but I don’t know.”
“At the end of the day, I remember Tommy Dreamer and Billy Gunn pulled me aside and they’re like, ‘Look, management sucks.’” “‘I know you’re in a bad position, but he’s just like, ‘You’re too talented, too good to be locked in this kind of position where if you do this, and say IMPACT does try to sue you and/or AEW, now you’re going to have two companies that you just basically pissed off, you know, over this.’ And he goes, kind of like, ‘Not that you’re going to burn any bridges, but it’s probably better just to bite the bullet, not do the match, and then you know, just go about it.’”
“So, that’s what ended up happening, and then I told, you know like I said like, just like, two hours before the show the match was going to happen, I’m like, ‘I can’t do it anymore.’ And I was super bummed, super apologetic. But everybody was like, a lot of them were very apologetic back to me, you know? Tony and Hangman and everybody else.”
You can check out Brian Cage’s comments in the video below:
