Joey Janela Reveals He ‘Got A Call’ After Deleted AEW Tweet Last Year

Back in November, Joey Janela tweeted, and deleted, a message saying he wasn’t going to appear at AEW Dynamite, claiming that he was losing steam after working hard on the independent scene for fourteen years. Nothing seemed to come from it, as Janela has been featured on Dynamite and Dark since and is still working for the company. In an interview with Wrestling Inc, The Bad Boy spoke about why he didn’t really care if AEW got mad about the tweet and revealed he ‘got a call’ after he sent it. Here are highlights:

On his tweet about AEW last year: “I just did it, shoot. I didn’t ask permission. After I put up the tweet I got a call [laughs]. Really, I don’t give a sh*t. The reason why I’ve gotten as far as I have is that you don’t know what’s real and what’s fake when it comes to me on social media. You don’t know if I’m shooting or not shooting. A lot of the stuff I’ve done in my wrestling career, guys like Jim Cornette would call absolute cosplay bullsh**.”

On mixing joke matches with serious matches: “I’m completely on one side of the spectrum but also at the same time on the other side of the spectrum. So, you don’t know what you’re gonna get with me. I just know how to gain interest and it’s worked out pretty positively for me.”

On his straight wrestling match with Kenny Omega: “It was great. I just wanted to show everyone that I could go. That match almost didn’t happen so for them to let it happen was a big deal for me. Some of my friends from home came up to watch it so maybe my career peaked at that point [laughs].”

On what the plan originally was: “Where the segment was – me and Jack Evans never wrestled on TV. That would have been his and my TV debut and they didn’t want to put us out there cold. I said, ‘Well, you advertised the match already.’ They said, ‘We’re just gonna put Jack in there with Kenny.’ I was depressed as I was just coming off the big match with Kenny the week before. I felt like things were going right and I really wanted to have that match with Jack Evans on TV. 15 years in the making – I needed that moment.”

On wrestlers being more careful where they sign: “I’m talking about five-year deals for $125 a show. That’s taking advantage of people as I know in 3-5 years that other opportunities will come around. They will regret ever signing that deal in the first place. [GCW] has been hitting complete stride and FITE is amazed at the buy rates on the GCW shows. I’m not saying it’s doing AEW numbers, but from where we came from and who we are… They were at first like, ‘Who the f*ck are these guys?’ Now they’re just getting bigger and bigger month by month.”

On a PPV about Janela getting released without his permission: “Steve O’Neil, a guy who bought a bunch sh*t and bought CZW apparently owns the rights to the footage. So, they’re putting out compilations of guys that have made it to TV and putting it out on PPV. There’s one about The Bucks too and one about Kevin Steen [Kevin Owens]. They’re all rotating those. I can’t do much about it but it is what it is. There’s a 55-minute PPV special of Before They Were Stars – Joey Janela out there…f*ck it.”