Joey Janela Blames Politics For Impending AEW Exit
GCW star Joey Janela sat down with Denise Salcedo to discuss the news that was made public last night; his upcoming departure from AEW.
According to Janela, it is an amicable departure. Janela, whose most famous AEW matches were Lights Out matches against Jon Moxley at AEW Fyter Fest and Kenny Omega on the second episode of AEW Dark, cited wanting to be "Joey Janela" as his main reason for leaving while wishing AEW and everyone there luck.
"I wish everyone luck, you know?" Janela said. "I wish everyone at AEW and all my friends that I don't get to see anymore, I wish them luck and I know they feel the same about me. They know how much I love professional wrestling and how I love nothing more than helping people. I put everyone in front of myself. I always put everyone in front of myself and I will continue and I just hate politics. I just hate the political aspects of this business. But that's every business.
"And that's why I'm going to be my own boss and no one's gonna tell me nothing. Because I know I'm right and I know I'm one of the best wrestlers in the world and I need to be me 100%. I can't have anyone tell me what to do. Whether it be, I don't know, I don't want anyone to tell me how to wrestle, how to live my life, how to portray myself on social media. I don't want that. I am Joey Janela. This is how I got my name out there and I'm going to be Joey Janela and this is the year that I'm gonna be the platform to prove that I'm one of the best. 100%."
Janela's departure from AEW now gives him more time to focus on wrestling on the independent scene and GCW, where he will be running his annual Joey Janela's Spring Break event at the Collective WrestleMania weekend. Janela was asked which older wrestler he would like to use on a future GCW show, and gave two answers.
"I would say it's either between Alex Wright or Marc Mero," Janela revealed. "Those are probably my two. Marc Mero's doing shooting stars in the lakes and stuff, so maybe. You know maybe he's looking for a comeback. Maybe we can figure something out. I know he talks to DDP a lot. I talk to DDP occasionally. Fellow Jersey man can hook me up with some Marc Mero contact and maybe we can make that happen next year.
"But I don't even know if those guys, between Alex Wright and Marc Mero, those guys to me are such big names that for a Spring Break show that you'd have to them in a featured contest. So, who knows? I know Alex Wright hates America. I don't blame him. So there's chances are that you'll probably never see him here again."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Denise Salcedo and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription