SCU On Wanting To Send Fans Home Happy After Their Closing Act, Comparing Kevin Smith To AEW
Last Wednesday, the first-ever AEW Dynamite premiered live on television on TNT. After a successful dark match against Luchasaurus, Marko Stunt, and Jungle Boy, SCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky) hosted a Post-Dynamite media scrum to talk about the entirety of the premiere and how they felt about it, as well as being on TNT, and having Kevin Smith in attendance. Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman had the opportunity to ask a few questions to the veteran group.
Hausman began by asking how SCU felt about closing last night's show. Before the premiere, they were the openers for the majority of AEW's pay-per-view events. Kazarian covered that question by stating that there is no adrenaline rush like being the opening act. Additionally, he mentions that they were glad to be able to be the last group to go out last night, because their job is to send fans home happy, and they believe they did just that.
"[Opening and closing a show], they both have special meaning," Kazarian states. "There's no replacement for that adrenaline when opening up a show. On the same token, we want to send them home happy (closing the show). Usually, that's the job of The Young Bucks and Cody, traditionally. You know, tonight was our turn. We've got catchphrases, we like to do sing-a-longs. So, it was our turn sending them home happy and seeing a good match, as well as seeing guys that are established and are going to be the future. Not only of this company, but the business. The three guys we wrestled it was great, and the motive was sending them (the fans) home happy, and I think we did just that."
Christopher Daniels was asked about what's it like to be back on TNT again, after 20 years ago wrestling for the formerly known company WCW, who had their Monday Nitro show on TNT as well. Daniels stated that this is the first time in a long time where he felt like a kid again because of how excited he is to be part of history, and to be on a network that has such a big demographic of viewers.
"It's awesome dude," Daniels said ecstatically. "Times have changed, but we're back. We're on the rise. We're in the high point right now of professional wrestling. There are so many people who want to see us progress, there are so many ways to see professional wrestling. Now, this is the most access that I've ever been part of. We're on a platform now that is bigger than any platform that I've ever been part of. I can't be more thrilled. Twenty-six years in the business and I'm waking up like a kid every morning knowing that I'm going to be on TNT tonight. I'm walking down the aisle with my best friends in front of 13,000-14,000 plus tonight. I'm going to do it again next week, and the week after that, and the week after that, until I pass away. It could be either six months from now or 70 years, and I'd still be wrestling."
Kevin Smith, aka Silent Bob from the Clerks movie series, as well as comic book industry influencer, was in attendance last night. Before making his appearance on TV, he and his pal from Clerks Jason Mewes (Jay) were the first to reveal the AEW Tag Team Championships. Hausman's final question to SCU was about Smith and what it meant for them to have a big star be in attendance last night. Daniels mentioned that he got to tell him that he was a big fan of his work, but also was quite grateful that Smith came to the show, even though, he has quite a busy schedule.
"I got a chance to tell him that I'm a big fan of his work," Daniels began. "I got a chance to also remind him that I'd been on his show before and he was very pleasant about it, very cool. The fact that Kevin Smith took time out of his busy schedule to come watch and enjoy the show- I'm sure you all saw that he was in the front row, just as excited as everybody else. Someone like Smith who's seen all forms of entertainment and has dealt with all forms of entertainment, for him to be entertained, again, it's just a sign that we're doing something right. Someone who could see that might be jaded by other forms of entertainment came and enjoyed themselves tonight. He loved what he saw."
Kazarian also added in a few words about Smith.
"On that note, going back to the indie stuff, Smith very much has an indie mentality. He wasn't in the system when he was making films. He was very much out of the system. Look what he became. He built up a brand the exact same way that we did with AEW. He's just not falling down and doing it."
SCU announced on Thursday that Daniels and Kazarian will be representing their team as they take on the Best Friends in the first-round AEW Tag Team Tournament to determine who will become the first-ever AEW Tag Team Champions. Their first match will be on October 16th in Philadelphia.
The full audio of SCU's post-AEW Dynamite media scrum will air as part of today's episode on our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.