Doc Gallows Says WWE Wanted to Get Rid of the Indies, Talks Initially Going to NJPW

Doc Gallows discussed his time in NJPW and recalling WWE’s philosophy against the indies in a new interview. Gallows appeared on the MCW Cast, and you can see some highlights below per Wrestling Inc:

On how he ended up in NJPW: “I was in TNA, old school TNA at the time, did the Aces & Eights thing. I signed a one-year deal with an option. The option was for a raise, and I got in a fight with the office because they’re like, ‘We want to keep you, and we want to put you in a singles.’ And they had some cool ideas, but they didn’t want to give me the raise, and we started butting heads about that. It’s what it says. You guys have to do it. I heard there was an opening in New Japan. Actually, Scott D’Amore, who’s my boss now, was my agent for the New Japan deal, and I started talking to them.”

On partnering with Karl Anderson: “I met Karl twice. They’re like, you guys are gonna love each other if you’re together. It’s funny to hear him tell the story because he was getting ready for a big singles run there. They brought me in, put us in the Tag League together. He as like, ‘What the hell man? I was about to get my big push,’ but then we clicked immediately, and then they changed the finished for the tournament. We came back. In my second tour, we won the IWGP Tag Team Titles in the Tokyo Dome. Bullet Club was off and running from there.”

On appearing on AEW TV while being signed to Impact: “You’ve got to give so much credit to Tony too. To be around him for the last almost year now and everything, he’s such a fan of professional wrestler. He’s like I am or you guys sitting in the chairs where he’s like, ‘Oh man, it would be super awesome if we get this guy and then bring this guy who we’ve never seen together and have this dream match.’ Who would have ever imagined two complete different genres of how we do this art form that you’re gonna see Chris Jericho wrestle Nick Gage on primetime television on TNT.

“But stuff like that makes it so cool and so different. When we first ran out and jumped the rail there, people were shocked to see, they knew that we weren’t WWE. They knew we were over in Impact, and it’s been cool. There’s been so much of that since we did it and the influx of new talent, being able to bring these guys out to the regional shows and do stuff, like what we were talking, how I used to come to this show. When I was a young teenager, you could see King Kong Bundy on Superstars on Saturday morning on a pre-tape, and then he’s gonna be in Kaiser, WV and we can go see him for 10 bucks. It was amazing.”

On WWE’s attitude to outside companies:“I did hear this, WWE, I know at one point, there was a philosophy, which I hated hearing when I was working, they basically wanted to get rid of all the indies and have everything self produced by them, and this was before AEW had officially launched. And that was kind of the plan. Hey, we’re trying to buy Ring of Honor, for example. I don’t know if that’s one of them, but they probably tried. But luckily, these people held up and said no, and then AEW happens and now we’re seeing it’s fruitful for everybody, which is really important because if it’s a monopoly, we all know it’s boring.

“This (the indies) is the lifeblood and the grassroots of what pro wrestling is. It needs it for its function. Where do you get people from? Grab them (an indie star) and make them we want them. They’re all gonna be the same. I remember when I first signed too, a couple years before that, everybody that came out of OVW looked like they were ready to step on bodybuilding stage. They all wore trunks. They all had the same haircut. It was like a meat factory. Darby Allin would have never had a job. We would have never known where Darby Allin is. He never would have gotten a chance.”