AEW’s newest signee, who is one of the most explosive stars in the industry, was recently a guest on an episode of AEW Unrestricted, where he was interviewed by Referee Aubrey Edwards and AEW Announcer Tony Schiavone on a number of topics, including getting knocked out during his WWE tryout match and more.
Below are the highlights from the interview:
On being good friends with Kanyon that got him work as a WWE extra:
“Being good friends with Kanyon and getting some opportunities through him led to me getting booked as an extra through a loop in California, which led to me getting signed there.” “I got pulled aside by Jamie Noble, and I went talk to Johnny Ace. They’re hopped up [about it]. Johnny Ace is like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re gonna have this match. Make sure you to come talk to me afterwards,’ and Noble was like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna get you signed tonight.’ I was working Shannon Moore, who I knew from Canyon, and Jimmy Wang Yang, who I was a huge fan of.”
On getting knocked out during his WWE tryout match:
“I wasn’t even nervous at all. Not even a little bit nervous. I was so like pumped up and ready. I felt so good, the match was going great. I remember from watching it, Jimmy Wang Yang gets a hot tag. I’m selling around, feeding around. Jimmy gets off of this huge cross body. Always been a big fan of his crossbody. I’m going to take this so good. So, I jump up in the air so high, I catch him. We come down and he hits me so high, I jump up so much. We turn like, and he lands right on top of my head. Completely knocked out. Stiff arms and everything. I go limp.”
On what the following day was like and John Laurinaitis offering him a contract:
“The next day, I didn’t get to do anything. I was concussed.” “I asked Noble, ‘Hey, what happened? Did you talk to Ace?’ [He goes], ‘Oh, I tried talking to him. We’ll see what happens.’ End of the night, he never talked to him. He goes, ‘You know, don’t worry. We got your information. We’re going to Australia for a couple weeks. We’ll reach out to you.’ I’m like, OK, thanks. You know what? That sucks. That doesn’t work for me. So I was like, where’s Ace? I’m looking for Johnny Ace now. I’m kind of buying my time staggering around. I keep seeing him, and he’s always occupied talking to somebody. I’m like, alright, forget it. I’ll just go for it. I walk up there and go, ‘Excuse me, sir. Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt.’ I put my hand out to shake his hand. He just looks at me like disgusted. ‘He goes, ‘Well, kid. That’s what you’re doing’ and turns his back to me and just walks away.”
“I did do some ring work that day because I guess some people on RAW didn’t know I was concussed. As soon as I leave, he came up and he tapped me on the shoulder. Pulled me to his room and he goes, ‘Sorry, I was a dick to you. You said sorry to interrupt you. Technically, you are interrupting. But I’m glad that you did,’ which also sends mixed signals. Like, hey you shouldn’t have done that because you are interrupting me, but I’m glad that you did because it shows you’re persistent. So I’m gonna offer you a contract.”
On how Lucha Underground opened up his eyes to what wrestling is supposed to be:
“Even though I accomplished the whole WWE thing, which I feel like was everybody’s dream when you were growing up, but it wasn’t until I got to Lucha Underground that I felt how I thought I’d feel at 10 years old to be a pro wrestler.” “It was great. So I signed with WWE when I was 24 like I wanted to, but being in Lucha Underground was like, oh this is what it’s supposed to feel like.”
