Joey Janela recently appeared as a guest on the WINCLY podcast for an in-depth interview. During the discussion, Janela spoke about deciding to sign with AEW, why going with them instead of WWE was a smart move for him to make and more. Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On the story behind him signing with All Elite Wrestling (AEW): “I asked Matt [Jackson] after ‘Mania weekend, ‘Now the dust has settled and Spring Break is out of the way, is there any place I could send by VHS and 8×10 to to possibly get on the show?’ I’d really never hit up anyone to get on anything but I hit up Matt because I’m friendly with him. He hit me up like five minutes later saying, ‘Nah man. You can get on [All In].’ It’s pretty wild how fast it happened. He hit up Cody and Nick and they said ‘Yeah. Let’s put him on.’ I didn’t know I was gonna get a big showcase match like I did. I’m wrestling one of their guys [Adam Page]. It was a pretty cool experience and after that there was rumblings that something big was gonna happen.”
On the first time he met Chris Jericho: “I met him at a Fozzy show in Vegas…me, Teddy Hart, Disco Inferno, a weird crew. That was the first time I met Chris and the next day I did his podcast with Teddy. He’s just been awesome and given me advice. He’s someone I look up to. Sometimes people compare me to a young Chris Jericho in terms of charisma. I look forward to sharing many locker rooms with him and hitting the road.”
On the creative freedom that comes with being part of “Being The Elite”: “It’s cool. They just let me do whatever I want. I film it on my phone and I send it in. That’s it…I just send it to Matt or Nick and they give me the thumbs up. They’ve never said, ‘This is too much.’ I love the creative freedom. That’s great that I’m working for these guys.”
On the reason why signing with AEW instead of WWE was a smart move for him: “I think it’s the right move for me to sign with AEW and not WWE because who knows how that would work out at this point. After everyone let me run wild over the last three years on social media and in person, who knows?”
Check out the complete Joey Janela interview from the WINCLY podcast below, or at AudioBoom.com.
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