Post Wrestling’s Andrew Thompson recently interviewed AEW star Joey Janela. You can check out the transcribed highlights below.

Thanks to Andrew for the transcription.

Audio below:

Written link: https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/03/exclusive-joey-janela-wants-to-show-his-technical-side-in-the-ring-talks-kenny-omega-gcw-more/

Janela on his matches with Kenny Omega in AEW: “The response was crazy. Actually, we were supposed to have a straight up, regular match on Dark. Nothing too crazy and I got the call the night before from Tony Khan, changed it to the f*ck fest that it became, and me and Kenny, we went 30 minutes which wasn’t supposed to be the case and it was kind of a big match for me and one of the main reasons I signed to AEW was to wrestle Kenny Omega and I got it so soon and it came so sudden. I just found out that week that I was wrestling him and we did it, we went to TV the next week and did it again and I look forward to wrestling him on a pay-per-view in the future and having a big match with him.”

Comparing the growth of GCW to the rise of ECW: “GCW, its growth — I compare it a lot to the growth of ECW in the 90s and it’s just a huge cult following and now it’s expanding outside of the cult following and they’re selling out buildings from coast-to-coast. Anywhere they go: Nashville, Los Angeles. They’re going to Texas soon. Everywhere, you’re selling out buildings and Spring Break is coming up WrestleMania weekend this year and we got 5,000 seats to sell and I have no doubt in my mind that we’re gonna sellout all those seats. That’s a game changer right there.”

Janela’s thoughts about GCW ‘For The Culture’: “It’s awesome. AJ Gray and Brett Lauderdale came up with the idea to do this show For The Culture, and I think it’s gonna steal the weekend. I think it’s going to be the best show of WrestleMania weekend. I think last year, Orange Cassidy, his show with GCW was kind of the sleeper, show stealer of the weekend. I think For The Culture this year, everyone is coming there to perform at their highest skill of degree and it’s gonna be a very memorable show for everybody.”

Showing his technical side in the ring: “I’ve been doing technical wrestling for a while now. I’ve had matches on the indies with the [Matt] Riddle’s, Zack Sabre Jr.’s of the world, thirty minute match with Zack Sabre Jr. a couple of years ago in Connecticut, and people on the indies know I can wrestle because I’ve done it all in front of these fans but the new fans coming into AEW see me for the first time — saw me as kind of [a] hardcore, car accident, f*ck fest, f*cking fall off a ladder and kill yourself wrestler which is not the case so now it’s me doing the same thing after I got thrown off that building a few years ago and proving people wrong on a larger scale and convert people and say, ‘Listen, this is not what I’m all about. I’m all the flavors of ice cream all rolled up.’”

His run as WWN Champion in EVOLVE and Darby Allin being one of his favorite opponents: “My match with Austin Theory. Wrestling him and debuting for EVOLVE for the first time and them putting the belt on me right off the bat was very special to me and I do appreciate Gabe [Sapolsky] for that and a lot of those guys still… wrestling Darby [Allin], that was probably my favorite match of my EVOLVE run is wrestling Darby in Massachusetts. Such a talent. One of my favorite guys to wrestle ever and that’s my favorite match with him hands down. Me and him in EVOLVE.”











