Brian Cage has undoubtedly been a pillar in professional wrestling since his rise from the independent circuit. His presence has been felt in what can be considered the lesser of the bigger promotions in the sport. He is now in AEW, which is arguably one of the biggest companies in the sport right now.
In a recent interview on Dynamite Download, he went into just how difficult it was for him to break into the company after quite the tenure over at Impact Wrestling. He also chronicles who it was that kept him from premiering in 2019 at Double or Nothing and just why that was.
In 2019, Brian Cage was Impact World Champion. His discussed appearance at AEW’s pay-per-view, Double or Nothing was to be a surprise. He states that he was supposed to last until the very end of the featured battle royale match, he being pitted against Hangman Page. Page was to go over.
Well, this led to some legal issues, as Impact Wrestling wasn’t at all that happy to see their belt on AEW programming at the time. Of course things are better now between the two promotions, but at the time, legal ramifications were discussed. He wanted to wrestle, he wanted to do the match, but he talked about who set him on the right path:
“Billy Gunn and Tommy Dreamer both pulled me aside…(They saying) ‘If I were you, I would not do this match. I know it sucks but here’s what’s going to happen. Either go through with this and they’re going to pull you into court, pull AEW into court, even if you lose you’re going to have to spend money in court and now you’re going to have two major companies have heat with you. You’re too good of a talent to be left in the middle doing all of that. I know it sucks but I would just bite the bullet and not do the show and move on going forward.’ “
So no, the match never happened that way, and Cage would eventually come over to AEW on different terms. It would take a year for that to happen, but perhaps it was all for the best. He is having quite the run and feud with Ricky Starks…a match that culminated in quite the battle between the two on Rampage last week.
What’s your take on this story? Sound off in the comments!