Brian Pillman Jr. on How Much He Wants to Compete in Next Year’s Owen Hart Tournament

– During a recent interview with the Counted Out With Mike & Tyler podcast, AEW wrestler Brian Pillman Jr. discussed the inaugural Owen Hart Foundation Tournament held this year in AEW. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Pillman on not competing in this year’s tournament: “I’ll go ahead and say it, straight up, I wish I was in it. I wasn’t too upset about it at first. Obviously, there is a lot of great talent in there and a lot of people that are on a whole other level than me. I know that Tony just wanted to put on some great matches. Looking back, I wish he viewed me in a better way to want to use me for it because it would have been a no brainer, in my opinion. I guess I take that to heart, that I should have worked harder or been a better singles athlete at the time for him. Unfortunately, that was not the case.”

On no one else in the tournament having a connection to the Hart family: “It is kind of a shame because there was no one in the tournament to really represent that connection to the family. There wasn’t anybody, that I can think of, with a direct connection. It just makes me hungrier and more ready for the future.”

Brian Pillman Jr. on how badly he wants to be in next year’s tournament: “I’ve been training every day just for next year’s tournament. I’m so beat up about not being in it that I want to do everything I can to be in it next year. I just got back from wrestling in Calgary for Bret Hart and his son’s Dungeon Wrestling, they’re starting back up, wonderful little promotion. The amount of people there to see me and meet me, made me feel so proud to be connected to that city, to Calgary, and that family. In a way, I feel like I let them down by not being in the tournament. A lot of people did ask me that, ‘why weren’t you in the tournament?’ I can’t really blame anybody but myself. Maybe I wasn’t ready. I don’t know. It’s pro wrestling and everything is put out there to tell a story and entertain people. That’s what the Owen hart tournament did this year. The matches were incredible. It was very entertaining, very prestigious. I can’t be too selfish about not being in it, but I will say that it is a huge goal of mine going forward and I don’t want to be left out next year. That would be a mistake on anybody’s part. My part or the company’s part, excluding me from it next year.”