A former TNA World Champion and current AEW star explains what soured him on the company and led to his departure.
All Elite Wrestling’s Josh Alexander was a recent guest on the Battleground Podcast. When asked if there was an offer on the table for him from WWE, Alexander spoke about the back-and-forth negotiations between them and TNA, led by former President Anthony Cicione, that eventually soured him on the company as a whole.
“At the time, TNA was under different management than it is now,” Josh Alexander said. “And it was different management for the majority of the time I was there, obviously, and the guy in charge that was dealing with the back and forth of all that, I did not agree with any of his business practices whatsoever. So that kind of soured me on it.
“There was things done to try to make me look bad, that I clear up obviously since. But I just didn’t appreciate it. So, that was one thing that just kind of soured me on the whole process. And then, in talking to them and stuff like that — I’m a guy that follows my gut. I’ll have a bad gut feeling. I’ll be like, ‘Something bad is gonna happen today’ and all of a sudden, my son falls at school and I have to go pick him up or something.
Trusting his gut led Alexander to AEW
“I trust my gut, and I just had a really good gut feeling about AEW. From the second they came to the table and started talking to me. They were very interested, and they just laid out the welcome mat for me, and it was just like, if they want me this bad, then they’re gonna appreciate the things that I can do for them and I can do things to make them money, be it promos, pre-tapes, matches, anything like that.
“If they can appreciate the work ethic that I put into this to try to pay them back for taking a chance on me and signing me, then, hell yeah, that’s a good relationship for me and a ton of my friends are here already and it seemed like a fit right away.” [H/T: Fightful]
Josh Alexander will step into the ring with Kenny Omega one-on-one for the first time this week on AEW Dynamite.
READ MORE: Seth Rollins Wishes WWE Unreal Was Around For Moment That Still Upsets Him
What do you make of Josh Alexander’s comments? Are you surprised to hear about what went down during his time in TNA? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
