Popular Star Decided Against Signing With AEW

AEW

A popular star admitted that they decided against signing with All Elite Wrestling.

In 2022, Josh Alexander defeated Moose to become the IMPACT World Champion at Rebellion and has crafted an impressive reign so far.

“The Walking Weapon” has delivered some of the best matches of 2022 for the promotion against the likes of Eddie Edwards, Tomohiro Ishii and Frankie Kazarian.

Ahead of his title win in April, Alexander re-signed with IMPACT Wrestling as a free agent.

In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, the IMPACT World Champion revealed that signing with AEW was an option when he was a free agent. However, Alexander ultimately felt staying with IMPACT was the right move for him. He stated:

“It was definitely on the table and it was definitely a thought and all this other stuff. But I wouldn’t say it was too close because with all the stuff that had been happening and IMPACT I really felt like [I should stay].”

“And like also happening in AEW, with me watching every week, I still watch everything to this day. But I just like for me as a pro-wrestler, my fulfilment of what I do is to go out there and wrestle and show what I can do.”

“I think my benefit is bell to bell, that is where I will gain notoriety, that is where I will show my worth in the pro-wrestling scene.”

Alexander continued on to note that the booking in AEW didn’t seem like a lot of performers were getting opportunities at the time of free agency. He said:

“And at the time watching AEW, it didn’t look like a lot of people were getting opportunities to do that stuff outside of like the top 20 people that were on the roster.”

“You’d see people shuffle in and out and shuffle in and out it out there. They get their runs for a few weeks, and they go back to shorter matches on AEW Dark and it was just IMPACT has been so good to me.” 

Josh Alexander went on to praise IMPACT Wrestling as the first major promotion to give him an opportunity and having a sense of loyalty because of that.

“The Walking Weapon” said:

“[Impact] were the first company that gave me an opportunity and got me that visa, did this stuff and like it’s all been roses since I got there man, I won the tag belts three months after I signed and got there.”

“And I had the longest running tag team championship run, you know, and then as soon as Ethan left, everything’s like going through your mind.”

Addressing how he was stressed out on what he would do next, Alexander stated:

“And I was stressing out being like man, I hope I don’t sit on the bench and just have to watch the shows until they figure out what they’re gonna do with me.”

“And immediately, I got an opportunity in the X-Division. And you know, that happened and was awesome and all this other stuff. It was just opportunity after opportunity.”

The IMPACT Wrestling triple crown winner concluded by stating how much he appreciates the opportunity to have the ball in the company. Alexander said:

“I think all you can ask for as a wrestler is for an opportunity to show what you can do. Give me the ball and if I drop it, that’s fine.”

“But you know, they’ve given me the ball a ton of times, and I don’t think I’ve dropped it yet. So, I’m just gonna ride this out and see how it goes.”

Josh Alexander recently became the second longest reigning IMPACT World Champion in the company’s history and will now go on to defend the gold against Bully Ray at Hard To Kill on January 13.

Transcription via F4WOnline

Check out WrestleShop.com for all your favorite WrestleTalk merch, the WrestleTalk Magazine, wrestling shirts for grown-ups, and more!

• josh alexander
• Signing
• Impact Wrestling
• AEW

Share this article with friends