One of AEW’s fastest rising and most athletic star Brian Pillman Jr. was a recent guest on Wrestling Inc.’s Daily podcast to talk about a number of topics, including wanting to face TNT Champion “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes and wanting to win the TNT Title.
Below are the highlights:
On wanting to face TNT Champion “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes and wanting to win the TNT Title:
“I’d say it would be pretty wise to position myself for a title shot like that. That’s something I should be aiming for. But I shouldn’t be aiming just to have the match, I should be aiming to win the title.” “I’ve been drawn to Cody for a very long time ever since I met him in Calgary. I’ve been studying his work and watching his stuff and I think if he gets in the ring with me, he’ll realize real quickly that I’ve got his number. If you give me that shot, if Cody thinks it will be some fun little title match to get him over and, ‘Aw yeah, Pillman and Cody’ and we shake hands afterwards, that’s not gonna be the case. If I get that shot, I’m fully expecting to win the belt. I’m on fire right now; I’m on the best of my game. They better hope they don’t put me in the ring with Cody and the TNT Title on the line unless they’re fully expecting him to drop that title.”
On finding his groove again in pro-wrestling:
“There are two kinds of people that handle the pandemic – some people are still figuring it out and some people are still trying to feel safe. It really bothered me to be locked down and stuck at home a couple of months and it really put a lot of things in perspective for me. To be quite honest, the COVID-19 pandemic was the best thing that ever happened to me because it really reevaluated my values and my fitness and how I handle myself in the ring.” “Any match could be your last match and I told somebody last night in OVW, ‘This could be your last match so we need to treat every match like it’s our last.’ I go to the ring every time and I carry myself like I’m ready to win a championship.”
On him and Griff Garrison turning into a legitimate tag team:
If you look at AEW, it’s all about tag team wrestling, brother. That’s AEW in a nutshell. You’ve got all of the best tag teams in the world so I can’t expect to walk into this company and just expect to be a singles star right off the rip. I’ve gotta pay my dues in the tag division as well. That’s what I’m doing right now – I’m paying my dues and showing up 100 percent in the best shape I can possibly be in.”
You can check out Brian Pillman Jr.’s comments in the embedded audio player below:
