Sonny Kiss On How He Was Contacted For AEW, Says He Made Only $4,000 a Year For Lucha Undergound

Appearing on the latest episode of Talk is Jericho, Sonny Kiss discussed how he was contacted to be brought in for AEW and the “nightmare” that his Lucha Underground contract was at the time. Kiss worked in the now-defunct Lucha Underground as XO Lishus. Like many of the roster, Kiss had a hard time getting out of his contract after the company stopped running shows and noted that his contract was for a mere $4,000 a year. He ended up first working for AEW at Double or Nothing in the Casino Battle Royale and is now a regular part of the roster.

You can check out highlights from the discussion and the full audio below:

On how he first got contacted to join AEW: “So Brandi slid into my DMs. [laughs] I always say it like that. It’s just always so funny. She messaged me, she goes, ‘Are you signed anywhere? Hi Sonny. It’s nice to meet you. We would like you to come to a show.’ I think it was like May 25th, Double or Nothing. So she was like ‘Yeah, are you signed anywhere?’ I was like, ‘Yes, but I could still do other bookings.’ [I was signed to] Lucha Underground. I was signed, thankfully we were allowed to do everything but the other company [WWE], so I was able to do it. But I didn’t get my official contract until way after.”

On the difficulty of getting out of his Lucha Underground contract: “It was a nightmare. We were probably maybe making four grand a year. We couldn’t sign anywhere else at all. And there was times I couldn’t pay my cellphone bill, anything. Like, I can’t even contribute to my rent. It was bad … [Pentagon & Fenix] were amongst the first to get out though. I was really happy for them and everybody. I was amongst the last.”

On Cody reassuring him amid the situation: “Cody was like, ‘Don’t worry. We’re gonna still book you to the moon. And we’re gonna make sure you’re still here.’ Which was great, I really appreciate him for that. But I didn’t get my contract until maybe — so January was when they announced AEW. I didn’t get the contract until TV happened in October. It was brutal.”

On how Brandi learned of him: “I don’t know. We never had that conversation. She just DM’d me on Instagram. And I’m actually thinking it was gonna be All In 2. I actually didn’t know AEW was a thing back then. I just knew it was an event that was happening in Vegas. And I’m thinking ‘Okay, this is just an All In 2, it’s not going to be a promotion.’ Then January, they announced it in January. And I’m like, ‘Holy snap. Whoa.'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.