Colt Cabana sat down with Eric Novak of ARWP “ALL Real Wrestling Podcast” to talk about joining AEW, The Dark Order, working for ROH, NJPW, and more
Cabana On Signing His Contract With AEW
“Well you know actually AEW is the first contract I’ve signed since my WWE’s contract and you know that um you kind of had to sign that contract and so when I got fired from WWE I kind of made it a point that I didn’t really ever want to sign a contract again. So you know I had um in the past 10 years you know, TNA offered me a contract which I turned down.
Ring Of Honor offered me a contract I turned down but, I wrestled and commentated for Ring Of Honor for years just on a handshake deal and then eventually I got to the point where again I said I didnt’t want to commentate anymore, I just wanted to wrestle so I kind of gave Ring Of Honor my two-month notice and then after that um essentially I kind of told my friends in AEW, well basically I started with New Japan, so the option of going to New Japan was going to be what I was going to do full time but,
I had also told my friends at AEW like hey I kind of gave my notice so you know no pressure but, if thats something you want and it was something they wanted and they jumped on it and you know we started our talks and uh next thing you know you know I was part of the team and I think it was a good fit and those are the wrestlers that I all kind of came up with and we all kind of cut our teeth together and became you know independent stars and they you know they’ll tell you that you know it was just a matter of time and it was and it’s very exciting to be a part of AEW.”
Will Cabana still be working for NJPW
“I am allowed to do overseas international shows so you know once everything kind of starts getting going if it does, um you know I look forward to going back and tagging with Yano and you know that will be part of the plan so um it should be exciting.”
Working with the Dark Order and Brodie Lee:
“Well in storyline terms uh you know I came in kind of hot and then I started losing a couple of matches whether it was Kip Sabian or Jericho or Sammy and you know but, at the end of the day you know I. i’m still a high-profile and you know it took years to get to that point where uh the crowd kind of accepts you like that and they have accepted me like that and so the Dark Order thing was they were kind of taking the wrestlers who were maybe losing a little bit and kind of telling them that they can win and so thats kind of been Uno and Stu’s big thing and of course Brodi Lee who is the exalted one and so they’ve been courting me a little bit and um I think its been important an important part of the show and important part of storytelling a lot of people are still unsure whether i’m in the Dark Order maybe yourself included and that’s kind of the greatness of telling stories while in professional wrestling.”
Cabana On Three Wrestlers He Wants A Match With
“Well I never wrestled Kenny Omega I guess i’ll give some AEW names because thats where i’m at right now and that’s probably the most realistic so i’ve never wrestled Kenny Omega and it’s a match that i’ve always wanted to have now I am more of a DDT Kenny Omega fan as opposed to a New Japan Kenny Omega fan which I don’t think a lot of people say but that’s the Kenny Omega that I like so i’d like to wrestle Kenny Omega and then maybe even a tag team and um you know i’ve never wrestled um uh Ortiz in Santana.”
Cabana On His Most Memorable Match:
“sure uh my fifth match ever I wrestled King Kong Bundy in um in a handicap match it was me and a guy named “ Downtown Bobo Brown” we wrestled King Kong Bundy and um you know I was only five matches into wrestling it was that same summer I wrestled at Fort Atkinson so I was, I just turned 19 years old and King Kong Bundy was a legend somebody I grew up watching somebody I idolized and next thing you know not only am I in a locker room with him but, he’s treating me as an equal and he’s very nice to me and i’m, you know i’m no longer on the side paying for a ticket but i’m next to him talking about the wrestling match that we’re going to have and so he was very nice, he was very kind and he was very giving and um just like the awe that I was in at that point to be wrestling someone whose figure I had uh i’ll never forget and um I gave him a dropkick and he kind of stumbled back and I was told that he really liked me because he stumbled back.”
Being Part Of G1 Supercard in MSG and the ALL IN PPV:
“Yeah uh it was, I mean it was amazing to be at Madison Square Garden and at that point I was a commentator for Ring Of Honor and I wanted to be a wrestler and I knew we were doing Madison Square Garden so I kind of said something to the booker and I was like hey um I should be able to do something here and they were both agreed and so yeah um to be able to kind of see myself in the garden and call the matches in the garden and also be able to take off the outfit and run into the ring and then have the whole crowd start cheering for me uh it was super exciting you’ll see how excited I got like Liger’s hitting me and i’m just like ignoring it because i’m like soaking in everybody uh chanting my name which was just incredible a great moment in my career and then ALL IN to, you I played a big part in that battle royal um it was in chicago in my hometown again. Crowd going crazy you know almost had a shot of winning it but, I recognized that day and if you go back and listen to mny podcast uh from the road diary series entitled ALL IN I recognized how important that day was and will be in the history of wrestling you know 40-50 years from now I think. So uh I was just very glad to be a part of it and uh to be on the show with all of my friends who kind of helped change wrestling.”
