Aaron Mercer Talks Fighting The Gunns at AEW in San Antonio

Texas indie wrestler Aaron Mercer related the story of how he was tapped to team with MASADA against The Gunns for AEW in a recent interview with Fightful. Mercer explained how he was backstage at a San Antonio AEW show when he was told his name was on the card for the event. You can find a few highlights from Mercer and watch the full interview below.

On the events that led to his work with AEW: “It was cool. The first time…I did my EVOLVE tryout with Shawn Dean, who has a very prominent role in AEW. They were in San Antonio a couple of years ago, I was like, ‘You guys are in my backyard. Can you hook me up?’ ‘Yeah, we’ll bring you in. Might not be anything, but we’ll get you in.’ On that one, I just sat in catering, ate food, and enjoyed the show. There was crazy Texas talent. Moonshine Mantell, Fly Def, Will Allday. All these dudes chilling back there in catering. None of us got used, we’re all just sitting at the table enjoying the show. Next time they came, they were in some place outside of Dallas and Shawn hit me up. ‘We’re going to bring you in again.’ Wasn’t expecting to do anything. Was in catering again with some of the other talent. Somebody came running up, ‘your name is on the board.’ ‘What?’ I went sprinting down the hall and they had that little board where they write all the matches and segments and Ass Boys vs. Aaron Mercer and MASADA. It was weird because me and MASADA were having a deathmatch the next month. It was weird we were teaming together. Somebody was like, ‘Tony [Tony Khan] sees everything. He might have done that for a reason.’ I was like, ‘There is no way he saw a flyer from Laredo.’ It was cool. The Gunns were only like eight months in. I was their vet, technically. They were super cool, easy to work with, I’ve been on a couple of shows with them at TWC. ‘Hey, I don’t know if ya’ll remember me, ya’ll squashed me in two minutes on AEW.’ It was cool. I’m not the most extroverted person so I didn’t go up and introduce myself to a bunch of people. I got to stand there while Moxley and MASADA talked to each other. Moxley is exactly how you think he would be.”

On being backstage with AEW talent: “I didn’t go up and introduce myself and make connections like I should of because that’s what Ricky Starks told me to do. He was like, ‘Nobody ever remembers the extras so make sure they remember you. Go make connections.’ I only talked to a few people. I could have said hi to Jamie Hayter, she was getting coffee next to me. I could have said hi to Bryan [Bryan Danielson]. For some reason me and Trent [Trent Beretta] always locked eyes every time I was there. ‘Hey.’ ‘Hey.’ He seems cool, but I’m awkward and in my own shell. That was the advice that I didn’t implement.”