Bear Bronson isn’t holding back regarding his feelings during his AEW run.
Former AEW star Bear Bronson recently spoke with MuscleManMalcolm. While discussing his run with the company, Bronson admitted that at no point did he feel connected with the character he was asked to portray.
“All of my peers, when I worked there, I felt like everybody got to be — happy or unhappy, everyone’s unhappy all the time — everyone got to be the wrestler they wanted to be,” Bear Bronson said. “Have the matches they want to have or I should say the style that they wanted to wrestle. I was in a pretty unique position that I don’t think anybody else was in where I’m so emotionally disconnected from the character that I’m being asked to portray.
“From the jump, from Bear Country to Iron Savages — from then on, I felt like it was really out of my hands because it was ideas from other people either within my stable or outside of the stable. I’m really not the type to be combative with these things, as a professional I like to say, ‘Okay, if this is what you’re pitching, if this is what you’re asking me to do, I’ll do it the best of my ability.’ Looking back, there are things I absolutely should’ve said no to that I did not say no to.
“I was just trying my best to be a good hand and be a good professional and just not be problematic and I lost my job anyways, so. I felt like from then on, the character I was portraying, I could not relate to personally at all. Especially at first when we were like gym guys — maybe my stablemates were, but I just go to the gym because I have to. I actually hate it, but I go to the gym every day because I have to but I really do hate gym culture. Right off the bat, I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m so not – I can’t relate to what I’m doing.’”
The “motorboat” wasn’t supposed to become the entire gimmick of Iron Savages
When asked about the Iron Savages doing the motorboat, Bronson admitted that it was supposed to be a one-time thing and expressed frustration that it kind of became the team’s entire gimmick.
“I had motorboated on TV because it fit for that match where we were wrestling,” Bear Bronson said. “The Ass Boys, the Gunns, Austin and Colten on Collision. I said you could call me Ass Boy because I’m going to — and then I motorboated because it was good for the spot I feel because it was just an on the fly thing I said that was aggressively inappropriate but funny I guess for the time. I thought it was a blessing at the time, but it was really in hindsight a curse because yes, it popped my boss.
“Yeah, you want to make your boss happy but over time, it just turned into that being our entire gimmick. At that point I was like, I don’t even know what we are anymore. Over time, if you watch as the weeks go, the matches get shorter and shorter. It gets to a point where we’re just getting squashed in like 30 seconds to a minute. And all we’re asked is just do the motorboating stuff and then lose. I’m like, ‘Okay.’ I’m just again, trying to be a professional.
“I really envied my co-workers and I envied my best friends and I envied people that got to creatively put their mind into whatever they were doing that night as their own persona. The body of work you’re putting out, are proud of it, can you relate to it? It’s just the really weird position when I feel like I was trying to turn chicken shit into chicken salad, trying my best.
“Fans shitting all over it every week. Podcast people calling us fat idiots and [saying] why do they have jobs, the ridicule left and right. You had Dave Meltzer saying we had the worst AEW pay-per-view match of all time, which I’m like, ‘Okay, whatever.’ It was left and right negativity. I’m just trying to do my job, I’m just trying to do what’s asked of me.”
People in AEW didn’t want to work with him
It was bad enough hearing these kinds of things from fans and critics. But Bronson reveals that he had to hear similar things from other people on the roster.
“I felt it from my co-workers. Plenty of co-workers that are like, these f*cking shitbags shouldn’t have jobs. It’s funny because this would happen every week. I feel like stars would see that they have a match with the Iron Savages and they’d go like, ‘F*ck.’ Then they’d wrestle or work with me and after always be like, ‘Oh, you’re actually great.’ I’m like, ‘Thanks.’
“Like, oh, you’re actually good. It was just every week. It would get to a point where I would tell my wife, every time I had to fly out, ‘I don’t want to leave.’ That’s where I really learned — I was making a good check.
“You’ll see people online, god forbid I complain, people are like, ‘Well, you were getting paid handsomely.’ I’m like, ‘You don’t know what I was getting paid, first of all.’ It was fine pay, let’s not get carried away here. It really isn’t all about the money.
“I learned that. And I think that’s the biggest lesson I took out of being with AEW. This is not about the money at all to me. I’m doing great on the indies financially to be honest with you but this really isn’t about the money. I really feel like I got into this to be the wrestler I want to be and leave behind a legacy that I could be proud of.” [H/T: Fightful]
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What do you make of Bear Bronson’s comments? Did you enjoy his run in AEW? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
