AEW Champion Thought Original Offer Was A Joke

AEW

An AEW star initially didn’t respond to the company reaching out to him with a debut offer because he thought he was being pranked.

Powerhouse Hobbs made his AEW debut at the July 1, 2020 Dark taping, facing Orange Cassidy in singles action.

Hobbs has since established himself as an AEW mainstay, with the star previously holding the TNT Championship, and currently holding the World Trios Title with Samoa Joe and Katsuyori Shibata.

Speaking with The Drive, Powerhouse Hobbs recalled his experience joining the company in 2020.

Explaining why it was a scary time, Hobbs said debuting for AEW during the height of the pandemic was:

“Frightening, because I just got laid off from my job. My daughter was a couple months old. I couldn’t get hired anywhere.

“I applied at fast food spots, they were like, nah, because I was overqualified from what I was told.”

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Hobbs then admitted that he thought QT Marshall’s text reaching out to him was someone ribbing him, recalling:

“But man, I got a call, QT Marshall actually texted me and I didn’t respond back for like, three, four hours because I thought somebody was ribbing me.

“Then I got a text from Cody Rhodes. Then I was just like, I’ve got to bet on myself at this point. The story is already out there, it took off.

“I had a debut match against Orange Cassidy, then my second match was a six-man against the Dark Order. Then week after week I started showing up on Dark, and then Tony gave me that okay, gave me that head nod, that opportunity which we all want in wrestling.

“You want that opportunity to prove yourself, and he saw something in me, and the rest is history.”

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Powerhouse Hobbs’ most recent AEW in-ring appearance saw him, Samoa Joe and Hangman Adam Page defeat Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia and Jon Moxley on the October 1 Dynamite episode.

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