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During an interview that released today with Denise Salsedo, Joey Janela commented on his AEW status, noting that he was not signing a new deal with the company. You can check out the complete interview below:
Janela noted in the interview that he wishes the company wasn't being so "radio silent" with him, noting, "I just wish there was less radio silence on their end with me. I consider Tony [Khan] a friend, I hung out with Tony a lot in the beginning days of AEW, I just wish they would talk to me. I know it's come to an end. But I appreciate them, I appreciate the experience I had and I am gonna take everything I learned there and bring it with me for the rest of my career."
During the interview, Janela commented that an incident where he superkicked Eddie Kingston, leaving him with a broken orbital bone during a taping in Charlotte, NC may have been the final straw for him in AEW, noting that after his AEW Dark feud with Sonny Kiss, "...I think they had plans for me, Tony kept on saying 'after this we're bring you back to TV' but unfortunately I ink a lot of it has to do with a situation where I worked with Eddie Kingston in Charlotte, and I super kicked him in the face a little bit too hard, came in a little bit too hot, I had been squatting probably 50 more pounds than I am used to be squatting, and doing a hundred pounds more on the leg press and I don't know, I didn't realize I had that type of power in my legs and I gave him a super kick and I broke his orbital bone. He was going into a feud with Chris Jericho, and I feel that may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. A lot of guys, maybe some older heads that believed my hype and believed that I was some kind of dangerous professional wrestler. I've had times where I've injured people of course, everyone has. But once you get that reputation, it's hard to break that. I've had a string of bad luck throughout my AEW career and that may have been the straw that broke the camel's back but I don't know because they don't communicate with me. They did the same thing to Marko Stunt. They just stopped talking to him. But I appreciate them, but if you have talent relations, I know Christopher Daniels would love nothing more than to tell me I am no longer with the company. But it is what it is. I am not sad, I am not mad, I am not mad at anyone, I had a wonderful experience."
In asking around today, AEW sources confirmed that Janela's suspicions were 100% right and that there was a lot of heat on him for the Kingston injury, as it prevented Kingston from traveling for several weeks and changed plans for TV and the Jericho feud as the promotion waited for Kingston to heal. Janela was also right in that there was an internal belief that there several talents had been hurt while working with him in the ring, which obviously worked against him. As he noted, it was hard to break that reputatation. Janela had not been brought in by the company since the Charlotte taping. We are told he is not expected to be utilized again before his current deal expires, which is late April.
Janela will be promoting and taking part in the two night Joey Janela's Spring Break event for GCW over Wrestlemania weekend. He will be wrestling Barry Horowitz this weekend in a New Jersey Street Fight for WrestlePro.
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