Kevin Knight Explains How Rocky Romero Pitched His Duel-Contracts With AEW & NJPW

– During a recent interview with Fightful, AEW and NJPW wrestler Kevin Knight discussed his career, wanting to keep people guessing, how he is able to work under two contracts with AEW and New Japan, and more. Below are some highlights from Fightful:

Knight on his mindset as a young talent: “Man, I like to keep the people guessing. I like to keep the people on their toes. So I stay a couple steps ahead and people just react however they want to react. But to me it’s just another day at the office. I’m just staying disciplined, staying consistent with my work and I feel like it just shows itself. So to me, I’m just doing what I regularly do and the people are getting a peek. It’s just the tip of the iceberg of everything that they see. So it’s it’s expected, I guess. That’s all I could say.”

Knight on how he joined AEW: “It was a fun process. Just eye opening process to see where I stand, see where companies think of me and Rocky initially got me into New Japan anyway. So me and Rocky have a good, healthy relationship. So he’s known me since the very beginning. So it was just like having another talk and just bringing in another factor, which was AEW, in the meeting with Tony Khan and QT Marshall and the other people behind the scenes. So it was an eye-opening experience just to get those talks out the way and just see what we can do for my future.”

Kevin Knight on how Rocky Romero pitched him having contracts under both AEW and NJPW: “Right. It really, really is. I think [Konosuke] Takeshita is the first one publicly that did it and being with DDT as well. So he has three under his belt. So I don’t know, just the way these things happen. I was just looking for exploring my options with my free agency and Rocky being in so many different offices, he pitched the idea of, ‘Hey, you can stay with New Japan and you could do AEW as well.’ Tony approved it. He really liked the idea. You know, me and Tony are pretty cool. I think it’s worked out for the best, get the best of both worlds. I get to continue my stuff in Japan while also furthering my career in AEW. So I think it’s like a handshake deal. AEW is helping New Japan. New Japan is helping AEW. I’m being helped by both companies, being able to keep my name in both companies. So I feel like it’s a dope experience. It’s pretty cool.”

At last weekend’s AEW All In Texas, Kevin Knight and his JetSpeed tag team partner Speedbal Mike Bailey lost in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match for the AEW World Tag Team Titles against champs The Hurt Syndicate and The Patriarchy. The Hurt Syndicate won the bout to retain their titles.