Huge AEW Star Upset That Former WWE Stars Didn’t Sign With AEW

Unlike many of the released WWE stars who were let go in April 2020, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows have not done any media interviews or made any podcast appearances since their firings.

That all changed last night, when following the expiration of their 90-day non-compete clauses, the former Raw Tag Team Champions revealed all in their Talk’N Shop podcast.

One of the focal points of the podcast was Gallows and Anderson’s decision to re-sign with WWE in 2019, instead of joining AEW. There were reportedly even plans to have the pair debut on the first episode of Dynamite.

Speaking on their podcast, the former WWE stars explained their decision in re-signing with Vince McMahon’s company instead of joining The Elite in AEW:

“We have other friends in that company, we don’t have to drop a bunch of names. It’s not that kind of an interview, but it’s not hard to figure out. A friend who is in a high power position there and wrestler who was like, ‘what the fuck, guys?’ I think that he’s still a little offended by it and my answer to him, if he ever hears this or reads the transcript, was none of this was ever personal. We appreciated the offer and everything everyone was trying to do for us.

It was clearly just a business decision. We’re looking at a five-year deal as opposed to a two-year deal with maybe a one-year option. When you start calculating that money and where you’re going to be in five years, especially with ‘you’re gonna be here for the full term’ and there’s plans for you after and all that. You’re stacking millions and millions and millions and millions up against, ultimately a smaller figure. Should we have taken the smaller figure, bet on ourselves and done something really cool again like we were in New Japan? F*CK YES! Is the egg on our face? It’s running down my f*cking face right now.

“But I think a lot of other people in that situation would go back and look at your kids and your wife and go … ‘Alright, honey. How do I say no to them backing a bank truck up to the front of the house and dropping the load in front of the door?!’ That’s a hard answer. It’s hard to even talk about right now, we talk about it a lot privately, we talked about it to death privately. A mistake was made, but there was logic behind it. It wasn’t to be harmful or spiteful or back-door anybody. It was truly, honestly a business decision to do what we thought was best for our families.”

Speculation was rife about who this “friend who is in a high power position” in AEW was, but that has seemingly been revealed thanks to Sean Ross Sapp and Fightful Select.

The site is reporting that it is Chris Jericho who was particularly upset that Gallows and Anderson opted to stay with WWE instead of join AEW, as he thought them joining the promotion was all-but-confirmed:

“On Saturday morning’s TalkN’ShopAMania, Gallows and Anderson had hinted at people who were upset in AEW that they passed on their contract offers last year. Among those, Fightful has learned that Chris Jericho was particularly off-put, as the thought the deal was done, and was “hilariously outspoken” about it at an AEW taping. While he isn’t an EVP of the company, Jericho clearly has heavy influence within the company and we’re told was friendly with Karl Anderson ahead of the contract situation. We’ve not been told how things have evolved since then.”

Despite the fact that they’ve left WWE, we won’t be seen Gallows and Anderson in AEW for another two years, as the pair have confirmed that they’ll be joining Impact Wrestling.

• karl anderson
• chris jericho
• AEW
• wwe

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